Details on Shinagawa’s new station revealed

Shinagawa New Station 1

On September 6, JR-EAST released details on the new train station planned for the JR-owned site between Shinagawa and Tamachi Stations in Tokyo. The station building has been designed by Kengo Kuma and will include an open atrium, origami-style roof and wood pillars.

Discussions about a new station in this area have been ongoing since the early 2000s. The station site is located on rail yards about 900 meters north of Shinagawa Station and 300 meters from Sengakuji Station.Read more


Setagaya to demolish Kunio Maekawa-designed office buildings

Setagaya Ward Office 1

On June 25, Setagaya Ward announced that they are considering demolishing and rebuilding the ward office buildings. The buildings may be replaced by 5 ~ 8-storey government office buildings, with construction starting by 2020.

The No. 1, No. 2 and Kumin Hall Buildings were designed by modernist architect Kunio Maekawa and built in 1959-1960. Read more


Mori Trust planning new luxury hotel in Sapporo

Sapporo Bank

Mori Trust have acquired the Norinchukin Bank’s Sapporo Branch building and land in Sapporo’s Odori Nishi 5 Chome district for approximately 9 billion Yen (88 million USD). The real estate developer plans to demolish the existing 60-year old building and place it with a high-end hotel catering to wealthy foreign tourists. Completion is tentatively scheduled for around 2020.Read more


Sony to demolish iconic Ginza building in 2017

Ginza Sony Building 5

The 50-year old Sony Building in Tokyo’s Ginza area will be demolished in 2017 to make way for a temporary park, and finally a replacement building by 2022.

The building sits on a prime 700 sqm (7,500 sq.ft) corner block of land just 180 meters from the historic Wako Building and the Mitsukoshi Department Store. The land is used as one of the government’s chika-koji annual land survey sites. In 2016, the land had a surveyed value of 34,700,000 Yen/sqm (approx. 31,000 USD/sq.ft), which would make the 700 sqm site valued at approximately 24.5 billion Yen (approx. 235 million USD). The valuation was up 18.03% from 2015, and has increased by a staggering 151% since 2002. Read more


Mori announces 3.6 billion USD in projects around Toranomon Hills

Toranomon Redevelopment

Last month Mori Building announced details on three new high-rise towers planned for the Toranomon District. These three towers will surround Mori’s Toranomon Hills complex on the north, south and western sides.

The total project cost is estimated at around 400 billion Yen (approx. 3.6 billion USD), and completion is expected between 2019 ~ 2022 2023.Read more


Mori moving forward with two long-awaited projects in Roppongi

Roppongi Toranomon Developments1

Mori Building is moving ahead with two major high-rise redevelopment projects in the Roppongi and Azabu/Toranomon districts - the Roppongi 5 Chome Redevelopment and the Toranomon-Azabudai Redevelopment.

Both projects are likely to become landmark buildings and may contain a mix of office, retail, entertainment and luxury apartments. Completion could be as early as 2022.Read more


Residential tower planned for site opposite Olympic Stadium

Gaien House 3

Gaien House, a 52 year old condominium located in a prime position across the street from the Olympic stadium site and Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium, is about to be demolished and replaced with a 22-storey building containing apartments, commercial/retail space and childcare facilities. The project forms part of the Jingu-Gaien District Redevelopment, which also includes the demolition of the old Kasumigaoka Public Housing blocks, and the construction of new buildings for the Japanese Olympic Committee and Japan Sport Council.Read more