Kengo Kuma designs Starbucks store

Japanese modern architect, Kengo Kuma, has designed a Starbucks Coffee store for Dazaifu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. The new store is located along the road that leads to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine and is scheduled to open on December 16, 2011.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo office market showing further signs of slowing

Data provided by Miki Shoji

The central Tokyo office building market is stagnating. At the end of November, the office vacancy rate for Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) reached 8.90%. This is the second continuous month with an increase in vacancy rates and the first time since April, 2011, that rates had reached this level. Meanwhile, the average office rent for central Tokyo has declined for the 39th continuous month.

With the Euro crisis and strong Yen, there is a deceleration in demand from tenants with many companies being more prudent and delaying moving. The demand for buildings with high disaster preparedness and earthquake resistance has slowed.Read more

by Zoe Ward

US-based firm acquires two Omotesando buildings

Elliott Management, a US-based fund management firm, has acquired two buildings in prime locations just across the street from Omotesando Hills.

(1) 21st SY Building (fronting Omotesando Avenue and next to the Emporio Armani boutique). The 6-storey building is on a 360 sqm block of land. The 2011 assessed land value (koji-chika) for this site was 9,300,000 Yen/sqm.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates and vacant floorspace down in August

Sanko Estate released their "Office Market" data report for high-rise office buildings with a floor plate of 660sqm or higher in Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) for the month of August, 2011. According to their data, the vacancy rate for August was 5.66% - down 0.45% from July.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo Stock Exchange negotiates lower rent on headquarters

Heiwa Real Estate Co. announced on August 24th that their major tenant, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), had negotiated for a lower rent of 4.412 billion Yen (57.3 million USD) per year for the TSE headquarters in Tokyo's Nihonbashi area. This is a discount of 8.3% on the previous rent. The current contract is for two years, after which time the rent will be adjusted according to economic conditions.Read more

by Zoe Ward

July Market Data

  • Average new apartment price down 3.7% in Tokyo
  • No. of high-rise apartments fall 69.5%
  • Office vacancy rates down in both Tokyo and Osaka

NEW APARTMENT SUPPLY DOWN:

Brand new apartments listed for sale in the Tokyo area in July fell 1.3% compared to a year earlier to 4073 units. This is the second month of decline. This is due in part to apartment showrooms opening for shorter hours to conserve power, less activity by developers and a general constraint in supply as material shortages and restrained buying cause developers to delay sales activity.Read more

by Zoe Ward

100 billion Yen redevelopment project for Toyosu area

Mitsui Fudosan will be embarking on a large-scale redevelopment of Koto-ku's Toyosu area from next year. The 100 billion Yen (1.3 billion USD) project on one of Tokyo Bay's reclaimed islands will cover a 47,400 sqm site. The project will include two high-rise office buildings (31 and 22 stories) as well as retail facilities. Due to the nature of the site, measures will be taken to strengthen the ground against liquefaction and the building will be built using "seishin" (vibration-control) construction. Completion is scheduled for 2016 and Mitsui Fudosan will be contributing 90 billion Yen in capital.Read more

by Zoe Ward