Chongryon HQ sale decision delayed
The Tokyo District Court has extended the decision deadline regarding the sale of the foreclosed North Korean Chongryon Headquarters in Tokyo. The court was expected to announce their decision on October 22, but a lack of information on the buyer, Avar Limited Liability Corporation, means the court needs more time to determine whether or not they are in a position to go through with the purchase.
Avar bid 5.01 billion Yen (approximately 51 million USD) for the 10-storey building in Chiyoda-ku.
Information on the mysterious buyer is still vague. Investigations by media outlets discovered that the company was created in January 2013 with a capital investment of just 60,000 Yen. Mongolian tax officials have no record of Avar paying taxes or insurance premiums. The business is registered to an apartment in Chingeltei, Ulaanbaatar. Neighbors say that the apartment was owned by the father of Avar's director, but he moved out several years ago. The current resident claims to have never heard of the company. Read more
Yaesu Fujiya Hotel to be redeveloped
The Yaesu Fujiya Hotel by Tokyo Station will close at the end of March 2014 as the Kokusai Kogyo Group plan to sell the building and land to Sumitomo Realty & Development in April.
Sumitomo are expected to demolish the hotel and redevelop the site into an office building.
Mysterious foreign co. buys Chongryon HQ
The Tokyo District Court announced that the winning bidder of the foreclosed Chongryon headquarters / North Korean de-facto embassy building was a foreign-owned company called Avar LLC.
The court is now assessing the financial viability of Avar's 5.01 billion Yen bid and will make an official decision on the sale on October 22.
*Update: The decision deadline was extended for unknown reasons. On October 21, a citizen's group filed a petition with the district court alleging that Avar is a fictitious company.Read more
Office vacancy rates in September - Miki Shoji
According to Miki Shoji's office report, the vacancy rate in Tokyo's 5 central business districts (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) was 7.90% in September, down 0.26 points from last month and down 1 point from last year. This is the third month in a row where rates have fallen. It is the first time since November 2009 that vacancy rates have been in the 7% range.
The vacancy rate in new buildings was 18.12%, up 0.19 points from last month but down 11.50 points from September 2012.Read more
Old Andersen bakery in Hiroshima to be demolished
The 88-year old Andersen bakery in Hiroshima is going to be demolished and rebuilt by Andersen Group as repairs and upgrades to the existing building prove too costly.
The renaissance style building was designed by architect Uheji Nagano and completed in 1925. It was originally the Hiroshima branch of the Teikoku Bank (which later merged to become part of the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation). Mr. Nagano designed a number of buildings for the Bank of Japan, including their head office which still stands in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.Read more