Mori Trust buys Meguro Gajoen despite ongoing lawsuit
In August, it was announced that Mori Trust had acquired Meguro Gajoen from Loan Star Funds for approximately 130 billion Yen. Singapore’s GIC was previously in talks to purchase the property for 134 billion Yen but backed out due to concerns over a legal dispute brought up by the original landholders.
Meguro Gajoen is a wedding hall, hotel and office building complex located 250 meters west of Meguro Station in Tokyo. Mori Trust acquired a large majority of the land (37,000 sqm) as well as the following five buildings with a total floor area of 150,000 sqm:Read more
Development near Sengaku-ji Temple draws opposition
A proposal for an 8-storey apartment building next to the entrance to the historic Sengaku-ji Temple in Minato-ku has drawn criticism and opposition from residents due to the potential impact it will have on the landscape and character of the area.
The site in question is located next to the temple’s Chu-mon gate. A 3-storey house is being demolished to make way for a 23m tall 8-storey apartment building which will contain mostly studio apartments. The land had been purchased by a Minato-ku based developer and construction is scheduled to start in mid-September.
Residential yields and vacancy rates in Minato-ku - September 2014
According to real estate listing site Homes, the average gross yield on an apartment in Minato-ku in September was 5.6%, up 0.3 points from the previous month but down 0.4 points from last year. The average gross yield across Tokyo was 7.0%, showing no change from the previous month and down 0.9 points from last year.
The vacancy rate was 9.9% in Minato-ku and 11.0% across Tokyo.
The average asking price of a secondhand apartment in Minato-ku was 804,386 Yen/sqm as of September 1, up 1.55% from last month. The average asking price for land was 1,279,090 Yen/sqm, up 0.17% from last month. Read more
Shimbashi to lose one of its oldest buildings
Shimbashi is about to lose one of its oldest buildings as the 94-year old Tsutsumi Daiichi Building is about to be torn down to make way for redevelopment.
Built in 1920, the five storey building was designed by Yunosuke Sakai and built by Toyo Concrete Kogyo. It is an early example of reinforced-concrete construction and possibly the oldest existing multi-tenant concrete building in Tokyo. Japan's first all-concrete building - the Yokohama Mitsui Bussan Building - was built just 9 years earlier in Yokohama. Sakai had assisted Oto Endo with the design of the Yokohama building.Read more