Tokyo, November 19, 2015 - Mori Building, a leading urban developer, announced today that it established the Shin-Tora Avenue Area Management Association on October 30 in collaboration with eight corporations doing business along Shin-Tora Avenue, an iconic new street that passes by the new Toranomon Hills complex in Tokyo.
Through the association, Mori Building intends to leverage its area management know-how, Mori brand and corporate network to realize various public-private initiatives, thereby transforming the Shimbashi–Toranomon area into a new global hub that will strengthen the magnetic power of Tokyo. Masahiko Ogasawara, an executive managing officer in charge of Mori Building's Town Management Department, is chairman of the association.
"The opening of Shin-Tora Avenue in March 2014, together with the planned construction of a new subway station, are being carried out under the government's National Strategic Special Zone initiative, which has the potential to turn the Shimbashi–Toranomon area into Tokyo's newest focal point," says Ogasawara. "Shin-Tora Avenue is in the process of undergoing a transformation involving a number of redevelopment projects aimed at turning it into a street like Paris' Champs-Elysees, in the years ahead. We look forward to working with the local community to transform Shin-Tora Avenue into a symbolic, Olympic-class road."
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) and Minato Ward have been collaborating on various initiatives for Shin-Tora Avenue. The road itself and some five hectares of surrounding area have been designated as a special redevelopment zone under a TMG initiative to promote chic streetscapes in Tokyo. The TMG's Champs-Elysees Project, for example, is developing pedestrian walkways as places for lively urban culture.
Mori Building is a key member of the existing Shin-Tora Avenue Area Management Council, which comprises local stakeholders interested in comprehensively enhancing the area. The council now serves as the administrative arm of the new association. Together with other members, Mori Building is initiating activities to turn sidewalks into centers of social life and culture, conduct clean-up campaigns, develop area branding and generally strengthen the area's inertia. Mori Building's own properties are attracting tenants who will help further such efforts.
The new association will facilitate administrative procedures required to move forward with various activities, such as operating sidewalk stores on the avenue, conducting promotional events, and more.