Restauranteur planning hotels for Karuizawa and Nasu

Hiramatsu Kashiko Island, Mie Prefecture

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).

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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.

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287m tall high-rise planned for Nihonbashi

Details on the Nihonbashi 1 Chome Central District Redevelopment have been announced. The project will include a 287m tall high-rise with office, hotel and serviced apartments, as well as several low-rise retail, office and residential buildings.

The high-rise tower will be taller than Tokyo Midtown (248m), Toranomon Hills (247m) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (242m), but shorter than the 390m tall tower planned for the Tokiwabashi Redevelopment Project located 300 meters to the west of the Nihonbashi site.

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Tokyo apartment sale prices increase for 58th consecutive month

According to REINS, 3,304 second-hand apartments were sold across greater Tokyo in July, down 0.9% from the previous month but up 3.6% from last year. The average sale price was 31,600,000 Yen, down 0.06% from the previous month but up 5.4% from last year. The average price per square meter was 494,800 Yen, down 0.3% from the previous month but up 4.5% from last year. This is the 55th month in a row to record a year-on-year increase in sale prices. The average building age was 20.89 years.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area 1,722 second-hand apartments were sold, down 1.6% from the previous month but up 8.2% from last year. The average sale price was 38,640,000 Yen, showing no change from the previous month but up 3.1% from last year. The average price per square meter was 656,100 Yen, up 0.9% from the previous month and up 3.3% from last year. This is the 58th month in a row to record a year-on-year increase in prices. The average building age was 19.64 years.

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Luxury condo to replace Yoyogi Terrace Apartment block

Foretseine, a subsidiary of Mori Trust, will be demolishing the vintage Yoyogi Terrace Apartment rental building in Shibuya and replacing it with a luxury condominium.

Details on the project, including the construction schedule, have yet to be announced, but it is expected that the new building could be completed by 2020 2022.Read more


Sankei Building to enter Kyoto machiya hotel business

The machiya townhouse before renovations.

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.

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100+ year old convent to be converted into luxury hotel

On July 31, Mori Trust announced that they have acquired the historic former Maria-en Catholic nursery school in Nagasaki. Mori will restore the 119-year old building and convert it into an internationally-branded luxury hotel targeting wealthy foreign tourists with an opening scheduled for around 2022. Mori Trust operates 21 hotels across Japan, and this will be their first venture in the Kyushu region. The seller was the Minami Yamate-kai social welfare corporation.

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