Sumitomo Realty builds on foundation of excellence

Sumitomo Realty & Development is a large-scale real estate developer of exclusive apartments for sale and rent throughout the country. La Tour and Platine are the company's flagship properties, offering luxury rental and service accommodations in prime locations in Tokyo.

The first La Tour was built in 2000 in Tokyo's upscale business-cum-residential district of Shiba. "Since then, we have supplied roughly 1,000 units at 11 La Tour buildings to our customers. Many of our residents are company owners and executives in IT and venture capital businesses. We also have a high ratio of foreign residents, which stands at around 40 percent for all 11 buildings. The occupation ratio is also high, especially for La Tour Yoyogi Uehara, which is fully occupied most of the time and is particularly popular with families because of its good, convenient location," says Kimihiko Kanematsu, general manager of the Residential Leasing Department, Building Development Division.

In addition to being very close to train stations, all La Tour buildings offer a variety of hotel-like services, such as guest reception, dry cleaning orders and parcel receiving service at the concierge desk. They also provide secure and safe dwellings, with CCTV cameras monitoring the building interior and elevators. Moreover, each building incorporates the latest earthquakeproof design technology.

Room types range from studios for a monthly rent of around ¥300,000 to five-bedroom apartments for ¥2 million. At La Tour, all rooms are well laid out, spacious, and incorporate high-quality materials and specifications. Responding to the needs of residents, all apartment buildings have fitness rooms and accept pets on a consultation basis. For those seeking the comfort and freedom of a luxury apartment with hotel-like services, it is also good to know that La Tour service apartments are available for short stays starting from one month.

Backed by its wide-ranging experience in the supply, operation and maintenance of luxury apartments, the Platine series was added two years ago to the company's line of luxury rental and service apartments. Positioned as second in line to the luxury La Tour series, the Platine series has a more casual feel, with monthly rents starting from around ¥200,000, while retaining the same high-quality service and living comfort as the La Tour series.

Platine Nishi-Shinjuku, the latest addition to the series, is scheduled to be released at the end of April. The high-rise offers studios to three-bedroom units and the very best in city living. "The views are magnificent, especially when the street lights and neon signs turn the city into a jewel box at night. It is wonderfully located in the heart of Shinjuku and close to all its outstanding infrastructure D trains, roads, administrative offices, and medical facilities like hospitals and doctors. In addition, the building is also close to leading international hotels, superb department stores and countless good restaurants serving all kinds of food from around the world," Kanematsu points out.

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Bearing such conditions in mind, Kanematsu says, "We are negotiating with the hotels to offer our residents special privileges for their spas. We also are consulting with the department stores to provide catering services to our apartment dwellers."

While offering good access to Narita and Haneda airports, Shinjuku also serves as a huge terminal for express buses that travel from north to south. "This means that people can enjoy urban life by having a home here but also appreciate easy travel throughout Japan by just hopping onto the luxury express buses departing from the terminal," he adds.

Considering all those points, Kanematsu says that Shinjuku has the potential to become an exclusive residential area, not far behind Minato Ward, which is home to some of Tokyo's most soughtafter neighborhoods.

Platine Nishi-Shinjuku is a part of the company's plan to revitalize Shinjuku, together with the Platine Shinjuku Shin-Toshin, which opened last year, and the Nishi-Shinjuku 6-chome project to construct an apartment/office complex just across from Shinjuku Chuo Park. The project's 150-meter-plus apartment block, which should be available in early 2010, will be "a symbolic property for our luxury apartment brand, located in Shinjuku, where our company headquarters is located," Kanematsu says. And after Shinjuku, the company intends to shift its focus to the Shibuya and Daikanyama area.

Starting with the La Tour Aobadai, there are three La Tour apartment buildings, each with over 100 units, scheduled for completion in the area. The skyscraper, ready in August, is situated on busy Route 246 in the Aobadai district near former Yamatedori, where many embassies are located. The other two, both slated to be available in August 2010, are located in the heart of bustling Shibuya and in the quiet, exclusive residential district of Uguisudani, which is closer to Daikanyama. While the buildings in Aobadai and Shibuya will be high-rise, the building in Uguisudani will be low-rise, retaining the charm of the location, where several foreign residences originally stood.

By 2011, the company will have over 1,000 units in its seven new La Tour and Platine complexes in those areas, together with the Koraku and Iidabashi areas, where other redevelopment projects are under way.

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