Japan’s first privately-developed condominium to be redeveloped

After 61 years, Japan’s first privately-developed condominium - Yotsuya Co-Plus - is going to be redeveloped. On May 30, all apartment owners in the 28-unit building voted in favor of redevelopment. Redevelopment discussions first began back in 2006.

Yotsuya Co-Plus was completed in October 1956. The 5-storey building had apartments ranging from 50 ~ 75 sqm (538 ~ 807 sq ft) in size. 24 of the 28 apartments were two-story maisonette-type units. When new, a 3-bedroom apartment would have sold for 2,330,000 Yen, which was about 20 times the annual salary of a university graduate and more than double the average cost of a detached house at the time. Home loans were also not very common in those days, so the developer offered the apartments for sale under monthly installment plans.

More than half of the apartments are currently owned by either the original owners or their heirs. In the past 30 years there have only been 2 reported resales in the building. Read more