Luxury resort villa project planned for Atami
On December 16, Acao Spa & Resort announced plans for a 16 billion Yen (US$117 million) oceanfront luxury resort and artist colony in Atami.
Quick real estate news summary for the week
Tokyo’s 3D flood maps rolled out, apartment asking prices rise for 5th month, and Toyota to start building futuristic city in February. Below is a quick weekly summary of some of the recent goings-on in the Japanese real estate market.
NTT to develop luxe hotels with fine-dining restauranteur
NTT Urban Development, the real estate development arm of the NTT communications group, is jointly developing several high-end hotels with restaurant and wedding planning company Hiramatsu.
Hiramatsu is known for their French and Italian restaurants, wedding planning, catering and wine businesses. In May 2015, they announced their foray into the hotel industry with the establishment of Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts.
Meanwhile, NTT Urban Development has decided to pursue the development of hotels and resorts to cater to the explosive growth in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan. On October 1, 2015, they established a hotel and resort division in their commercial department. Read more
Witch’s House in Hamamatsu
Hamamatsu City can soon look forward to celebrating Halloween all year round as a spooky block of rental apartments nears completion.
The landlord, an avid collector of Halloween goods, wanted to design something that was fun not only for the occupants but also for anyone passing by. "Witch's House' has a uniquely warped exterior adorned with pumpkins, bats and crows. The apartments were designed and built by local builder Nukumori Workshop. This isn’t their first unusual project - they have built a number of Storybook style homes, shops and restaurants. Most of their clients are in their 50s and 60s.Read more
Shibuya mistakenly buys ryokan with X-rated past
Shibuya’s local government has found itself in hot water after it was discovered that a building purchased as a retreat had previously been used as a studio for filming adult movies.
The ‘Kikusuikan’ hotel is located in the hot spring town of Kawazu in Shizuoka Prefecture. The building and land was purchased by the Shibuya local government in April 2014 for 110,000,000 Yen and is scheduled to open in October. Total acquisition and renovation costs are expected to reach 228,000,000 Yen.
According to a Shibuya ward assemblyman, Kikusuikan was used as a location for 11 adult films between 2006 and 2013. City office officials, however, deny having any knowledge of this fact and were only made aware after it was reported in a weekly publication.
Taking into account the building’s ‘history’ an independent real estate appraiser valued the property at 40,000,000 Yen.
Sources:
The Asahi Shimbun, September 25, 2014.
The Mainichi Shimbun, September 24, 2014.
Japan's high-rise apartment market, March 2013
According to the latest data from the Real Estate Economic Institute's report on the high-rise apartment market, there are over 96,500 apartments in buildings over 20 stories tall either under construction or in the planning stages across Japan.
273 high-rise residential buildings are expected to be completed from 2013 onwards, with a total of 96,512 individual apartments. This is an increase of 38 buildings and 14,374 apartments from March 2012.Read more
Historic Shimoda Ice Factory to be demolished
The Nanzu Ice Factory in Shimoda City is scheduled to be torn down this month due to deterioration and concerns over its earthquake-resistance.Read more