TOKYO, August 22 (WNM/Reuters) - Mori Building Co. has started work on a US$5 billion real estate project that will include Japan’s tallest building and an emphasis on overseas residents, in the latest sign of developers’ bullishness on Tokyo beyond the 2020 Olympics.
Mori Building, known for its “Hills” brand of properties, said on Thursday it began construction this month on the Toranomon-Azabudai redevelopment project, near the Roppongi district in central Tokyo, with costs estimated around 580 billion yen (US$5.5 billion). Completion is slated for March 2023.
Mori Building Co., Ltd, a leading urban landscape developer, has begun construction on its "Toranomon-Azabudai District Category 1 Urban Redevelopment Project," a massive urban regeneration project aimed at revitalizing a large area of central Tokyo. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 5 and project completion is scheduled for the end of March 2023.
The core concept of the Toranomon-Azabudai Project is that of a "Modern Urban Village," a unique neighborhood that will combine the sophistication of a megalopolis with the intimacy of a small village in the heart of Tokyo. It will cover an area of approximately 8.1 hectares, similar to that of New York's Rockefeller Center, and will feature extensive greenery totaling 24,000 ㎡ including a 6,000 ㎡ central square. Total floor area will be 860,400 ㎡, including 213,900 ㎡ of office space and about 1,400 residential units. Some 20,000 office workers and 3,500 residents will work and live there, and 25-30 million people per year are expected to visit this totally new city-within-a-city.
Its physical structures will incorporate cutting-edge seismic designs and technologies, with dedicated power stations supplying electricity to the whole neighborhood. The project is designed to provide a safe city that will allow people to carry on living and working even in the event of a major disaster on the scale of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Mori Building's unsurpassed safety and security measures are designed to create cities to escape to, rather than flee from.
The Toranomon-Azabudai Project will create a "unique people-centered space" by blending diverse elements and creating a world of its own.
The project will seamlessly weave offices, residences, a hotel, an international school, retail shops, restaurants and cultural facilities into the fabric of everyday life, encompassing work, learning, recreation, interaction and relaxation. Built around innovative features that will include a village-like plaza surrounded by greenery, the project will create an urban space where people achieve harmony with nature as well as connecting with and inspiring each other with creativity. Far more than a mere grouping of buildings, the project will realize an integrated social ecosystem based on a people-centered approach to planning.
The core theme of the project is the huge 6,000 ㎡ central square offering "Green & Wellness" that will allow people from its diverse communities to gather and meet. A significant proportion of the site, including spaces on top of podium buildings, will be covered with greenery to take advantage of the stepped architecture.
There will be more than two hectares of green space, including the central square, creating a seamless urban oasis filled with trees, flowers and waterscapes.
100% of the electricity supplied to the entire neighborhood will be from renewable sources, which will meet the targets stipulated in the RE100 international environmental initiative led by the UK's Climate Group.
The mental and physical wellbeing of people living and working in the area will be supported with wellness programs involving medical facilities, sports facilities, a food market, restaurants and the environment of the central square. Mori Building will apply for project certification under the WELL Building Standard™ of the International WELL Building Institute.