Tokyo Embarks On Revamping Foreign Enclave In Largest Private Urban Redevelopment Project In Japanese History
<B>Tokyo Embarks On Revamping Foreign Enclave In Largest Private Urban Redevelopment Project In Japanese History</B>
By Judy Jacobs
Tokyo is always on the move and out to recreate itself, reworking neighborhoods and inventing some that were never even there before. In the '60s it was Yoyogi, site of much of the Olympic Games. In the '70s and early '80s, much of the city's development focused on Shinjuku, the shopping, entertainment and business district in the western part of the city. And in the '90s, Rainbow Town arose, literally, on landfill in Tokyo Harbor to be a new business and theme park district on a quiet island symbolized by its surrealistic Rainbow Bridge. Now it is Roppongi's time. Traditionally the foreign enclave, where many of the city's embassies, international restaurants, clubs and cafés are located, Roppongi will be the site of the largest private urban redevelopment project in Japanese history.
Known as the 66 Project, the development is being dubbed "a new cultural urban center for the 21st century" and will include residential, commercial and cultural facilities, as well as a hotel. The 66 Project was 14 years in the making, having been first launched in 1986 by Mori Building Co., one of Japan's largest real estate developers. Ground was not broken until late May of this year, however, and completion is scheduled for 2003.
Among the 10 planned buildings is a 54-story office tower, as well as a separate tower containing retail shops and restaurants, as well as the Mori Art Center on the top floor. Hyatt has been chosen to manage a 400-room, 21-story Grand Hyatt hotel to be located adjacent the office building. The project also will include a performance theater and a cinema complex, as well as four residential buildings, ranging from five to 43 stories in height.
Meanwhile, Oakwood Worldwide opened its first Japan property, the Oakwood Residence Akasaka, in May on a site not far from Roppongi. The hotel offers 41 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 721 to 1,431 square feet, and will cater mostly to long-staying business travelers.
"Most of our guests will be from the corporate world," said P.G. Mathew, Singapore-based managing director of Oakwood Asia Pacific. Embassy officials and other non-government organization staff also will be part of the target market, but the majority will be corporate."So far, the average length of intended stay has been about three to six months, with some going up to a year," he added. "This is in keeping with our experience in other parts of the world."
Oakwood currently operates a 560-unit property in Bangkok, 306 units in Manila and 155 in Guangzhou. In 2001, it will open long-stay properties in Beijing, Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta.
Back in Japan, another section of central Tokyo slated for development is an area south of Shimbashi Station known as Shiodome. Traditionally a neighborhood of small office buildings, Shiodome is being targeted by Kojima Corp., a developer that will build a series of high-rise office buildings, as well as a hotel. Nippon Television plans to move its headquarters to the area and other companies are expected to follow. The first phase of the project is scheduled for a 2003 completion.
Also in the city's center, the site of the former headquarters of Japan Railway, located across from Tokyo Station, is slated to become a high-rise office building crowned by a 300-room hotel, currently known as M300. Okura Hotels reportedly has been approached to manage the property, but at press time no contract had been signed.
Meanwhile, Tokyo's Shibuya-ku (or ward, the means by which Tokyo is geographically divided) has become the dot-com capital of Japan--home to software and Internet companies and an area that is young and hip, similar to San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood.
Business is booming in the area, which includes Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinagawa (all stations on the city's main circular Yamanote commuter train line, as well as neighborhoods that always have attracted trendy youth), and Tokyu Inn has built a new hotel to cater to corporate travelers from the world of high tech. The 408-room Excel Hotel Tokyu, which opened in early April, is part of Shibuya Mark City, a development project that includes two buildings--one containing offices, accommodating a total of 3,000 workers, and the other a hotel and shopping center. The hotel occupies the fifth to 25th floors of the second building and includes two women-only floors, as well as an executive floor with cable Internet access.
While major projects proceed in Tokyo, developers also are setting their sights on adjacent Saitama, just north of Tokyo, which makes up a large part of the city's suburban fringe.
In Saitama, three cities--Omiya, Urawa and Yono--are merging to form a new urban enclave to be known as Saitama City. At the same time, the Saitama prefectural government has launched an extensive redevelopment project that is well underway in the area south of Omiya Station.
Many Kanto regional government offices (the Kanto region consists of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures) already have moved to the neighborhood. The developers plan to build a Metropolitan Hotel, which is part of the same company that owns and operates the Ikebukuro Crowne Plaza Hotel near Tokyo's Ikebukuro Station.