Construction starts on Aoyama Bell Commons redevelopment
Construction has started on a 20-storey commercial building on the site of the former Aoyama Bell Commons building in the Omotesando / Gaienmae area in Tokyo. Completion is due by April 2020.
The 90m tall Kita Aoyama 2 Chome Project will include retail on the first two floors, a hotel on floors 3, 4 and floors 16 through 20, and office and co-working space on floors 5 through 15. The total floor area will be 22,910 sqm, approximatley 50% larger than Aoyama Bell Commons, while the new building will be almost twice as tall.Read more
700 million USD condominium, hotel and retail project for Hokkaido’s Rusutsu Resort
Kamori Kanko, a Sapporo-based hotel operator, is planning an 80 billion Yen (approx. 717 million USD) overhaul of the Rusutsu Resort in Hokkaido.
The first stage of the project will include a 148-room luxury condominium-hotel with construction set to start next spring. The condominium will be called The Vale Rusutsu and will be 11 storeys with completion by December 2019. Rooms will range in size from 50 ~ 260 sqm (538 ~ 2,798 sq ft) and with prices expected to range from 40 ~ 300 million Yen (360,000 ~ 2,700,000 USD). Sales are scheduled to start this month. Owners will have the option of leasing their room to the hotel while they are not using it.Read more
Japan’s first Indigo hotel to open in Hakone
On November 22, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced plans to open a 100 room hotel alongside the Haya River in Hakone.
The Hotel Indigo Hakone-Gora will be IHG’s first Indigo-branded hotel in Japan. Opening is scheduled for 2019.
The hotel site is a 10 minute walk from Gora Station and a 2 minute walk from the Hakone Tozan bus stop. All 100 rooms will have access to hot spring water, with 80 rooms having their own out-door hot spring baths on their balconies. Room rates are expected to range from 25,000 ~ 30,000 Yen per night.
Hakone, a popular onsen destination about 30km south-east of Mt. Fuji, receives as many as 20 million tourists each year.
Hotel activity in Hakone:
- The Kanaya Resort Hakone, operated by Nikko’s Kanaya Hotel Kanko Group, opened on November 3, 2017. The 14-room hotel sits on a 22,000 sqm site in Sengokuhara and has made use of an existing corporate guest retreat building. 12 of the 14 rooms have outdoor hot spring baths. Room rates range from 29,000 ~ 110,000 Yen per night.
- Fujita Kanko’s Hakone Kowaki-en Tenyu hotel opened in April 2017 in the Kowakudani district. All 150 rooms have their own outdoor rotenburo hot spring baths. Room rates start from 28,000 Yen per night.
- Mori Trust acquired the historic Gora Kansuirou Hotel in Gora in March 2017 for an undisclosed price. The 96-year old hotel sits on a 15,000 sqm block of land and has a total floor area of 2,266 sqm. Room rates range from 32,000 ~ 38,000 Yen per night.
- The landmark Fujiya Hotel (c1891) will close from April 2018 for earthquake retrofitting, with re-opening scheduled for Spring 2020.
- Hakone Hotel Kowaki-en in Kowakudani will close permanently in January 2018. The site may be redeveloped into a larger hotel sometime in the future.
Location
Kiga, Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture
Sources:
Travel Voice, November 22, 2017.
The Tokyo Shimbun, November 9, 2017.
The Kahala Hotel & Resort to open in Yokohama
Resorttrust Inc, a Nagoya-based hotel operator and developer, is planning to open The Kahala Hotel & Resort Yokohama in the city’s waterfront district of Minato Mirai by 2020.
Resorttrust plans to capitalize on the Kahala brand-name to attract both domestic and foreign tourists. The project will include two 14-storey hotels - one that is open to the general public, and one that is a members-only hotel. The smallest room will be a 50 sqm suite that is expected to be 100,000 Yen (890 USD) per night. There will also be four rooms of 120 sqm each that will be priced at around 300,000 Yen (2,675 USD) per night.
Restauranteur planning hotels for Karuizawa and Nasu
Restaurant and wedding function company, Hiramatsu, has announced plans to open an additional two auberge-style resorts in Karuizawa and Nasu.
Both resorts will have around 30 guest suites and are scheduled to open in 2020. The Karuizawa property is located on a 53,000 sqm site of leased land in Miyota Town, just west of Karuizawa. Annual revenues are forecast to be 1.1 billion Yen (approx. 10 million USD), and the total investment will be around 3 billion Yen (approx. 27 million USD).
Renovated machiya guesthouse in Kyoto makes 1 million Yen in first month
A renovated guesthouse located just 7 minutes from Kyoto Station has made a gross turnover of 1 million Yen (approx. 9,150 USD) in the first month of operations.
Yadoru Kyoto Washi-no-Yado is a 102-year old traditional Kyoto machiya-style townhouse that was given a full renovation and converted into a holiday rental. The occupancy rate for the month of July was over 97%. Over 80% of the guests have been foreign travelers, with visitors from China and Taiwan making up 60% of bookings.
Sankei Building to enter Kyoto machiya hotel business
On July 27, The Sankei Building Co., a Tokyo-based real estate company, announced that they will be entering the Kyoto machiya hotel business. Their first property is a traditional machiya merchant residence located a kilometer from Nijo Castle that is scheduled to open in April 2018.