Mitsui Fudosan and Accor have joined forces to convert an office building in Tokyo into a new hotel. Located in the heart of Tokyo’s famous Ginza retail and commercial district, the hotel will sit above a railway station with direct access to the rest of the city and Tokyo Disneyland. The 209 room hotel will be launched in autumn 2004 as the Mercure Hotel Ginza Tokyo. The project will be developed by Mitsui Fudosan, one of the largest and most respected real estate developers in Japan. Mitsui owns a portfolio of 24 hotels in Japan, but this is the first joint venture between the group and Accor.

The Ginza hotel development will be part of a private Japanese Real Estate Investment Trust established by Mitsui Fudosan and supported by other institutional investors.

This will be Accor’s second Mercure hotel in Japan. The first opened successfully at Narita in mid-2003. The Mercure brand is Accor’s largest, with 715 hotels in 45 countries, including hotels in major cities such as Paris, London, Berlin, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney.

The building is ideal for redevelopment to a hotel as it is a modern building with an impressive façade. Specialist designers from France have planned the interior design and fitout to give the Mercure a distinctive French style, to complement the fashionable and prestigious location in Ginza. The hotel will incorporate a restaurant and bar and has extensive car parking facilities.

“We have pioneered conversions of offices into hotels and our unique experience will ensure that this project is one of the most exciting new initiatives in Tokyo for many years,” said David Baffsky, Chairman of Accor Asia Pacific.

“The hotel will attract a wide clientele as it is in one of the most prestigious locations in Tokyo. For business travellers it is close to major corporate headquarters. For leisure travellers, it is just five minutes walk to Tokyo Forum and the restaurants and entertainment areas of Ginza are a short walk away. The adjoining train station offers a direct link to Tokyo Disneyland, which attracts over 28 million visitors a year.

“We will provide quality accommodation with French style and ambience at very competitive rates. The Mercure will be a very valuable addition to Tokyo’s hotel sector.”

“We are particularly pleased to be working with Mitsui Fudosan, a company of enviable reputation and renown. Mitsui Fudosan is the most experienced group in Japan’s commercial property sector and have an outstanding record in developing hotels. We look forward to working with them on future projects.”

The Mercure Ginza will join an existing network of seven Accor hotels in Japan: the pioneering Sofitel Tokyo, Sofitel The Cypress Nagoya, Novotels in Yokohama and Koshien, a Mercure at Narita Airport and two Formule 1 hotels at Numazu and Isesaki.
——-