Japanese real estate giant Mori Trust Group selected Boston for its first foray into America. More specifically, it chose two Back Bay buildings: 10 St. James Ave and 75 Arlington St, for a combined $673M.
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The buildings, according to Mori Trust president Miwako Date, "are situated in a coveted prime area in the U.S. and have an extremely high reputation for their functionality, design and other aspects."
The acquisitions are part of Mori Trust's larger plan for investing in U.S. properties, which it calls “Advance 2027.” The plan was put in place last June when Date, daughter of famed developer and billionaire Akira Mori, became president of the company. Mori Trust will pursue about 800 billion yen ($6.9B) in real estate investments overall, with investments overseas forming a key part of the strategy — 100 billion to 200 billion yen ($865M to $1.7B).
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The 565k SF 10 St. James dates from 2000 and is 19 stories tall, plus four levels of below-grade parking. The building, sold by Liberty Mutual, won a TOBY from BOMA Boston in 2016. 75 Arlington St, measuring 259k SF, dates from 1913 and was renovated from 2009 to 2013.
Mori Trust Group owns 124 properties totaling nearly 16M SF, including offices, hotels and residences, mainly in central Tokyo. One of its ongoing projects is a 38-story complex in Toranomon in central Tokyo, the Tokyo World Gate. It will total about 2.1M SF when completed in 2020 (in time for the Tokyo Olympics), with a hotel, apartments with hotel-like services, for-sale residences and a concierge service to facilitate the daily life of foreigners in Japan. The company is also planning the development of other large complexes in the Akasaka and Shinagawa districts of Tokyo.
Mori Trust Group is part of the Mori Group, which was founded by Taikichiro Mori over 60 years ago. Current chairman and CEO Akira Mori, the third son of the founder, created the Mori Trust Group, a major developer in Japan.
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