THE JAPAN NEWS

 

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Dozens of new high-rise office, commercial and other buildings are scheduled to open in central Tokyo in the years leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Expectations for economic growth and more relaxed regulations have fueled a building boom that will make Tokyo even more of a “skyscraper city.”

Seibu Holdings Inc. plans to open its Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho on the site of the old Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in July. The 36-story office building is to include a luxury hotel as well as rental condominiums in a separate structure.

Yahoo! Japan Corp. is among the companies planning to move its headquarters to the 180-meter-tall building. Most of the office spaces are already spoken for.

In the nearby Roppongi district, Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. plans to open a three-building complex this autumn that includes a 40-story building about 250 meters tall, and also condominiums.
There are 51 buildings of at least 20 stories expected to be completed in Tokyo’s 23 wards by 2020, according to Sanko Estate Co., a major office broker.

 

Of those buildings, 80 percent are in the five central Tokyo wards of Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya. Six buildings are scheduled to be completed this year, followed by seven in 2017, 11 in 2018 and 17 in 2019.

This would create a total of 2.85 million square meters of office space, or the equivalent of 61 Tokyo Domes. In response, some analysts are starting to worry about oversupply of office space.

People in the real estate business are talking about the “2019 problem,” in which there could be a glut of old office space when the new developments reach their peak the year before the Olympics. Demand from domestic companies will probably not cover supply.

“Investment from around the world will be needed to make areas like the environs of Tokyo Station, Toranomon and around Shinagawa Station” a base for businesses, said Meiji University Prof. Hiroo Ishikawa, an expert in urban policy.