This is a funny story that I caught via Adam Greenfield’s del.icio.us. It deserves some explanation.
Mr. Mori, who is Tokyo’s current top real estate magnate, spent decades and probably billions to build the gigantic city-within-a-city that is Roppongi Hills. If the 1990s was Ebisu Garden Place’s time in the sun, the 2000s is for Mori in general and Roppongi Hills in particular. Roppongi Hills is worth visiting as it is, like the new Time Warner Center in NYC, a vision of the future of a city.
But the reality of Roppongi Hills for those who live or work there is far different. People who work at Roppongi Hills frequently complain of high prices for lunchtime food, long lines due to tourists, not enough public transit access (only Hibiya and Oedo lines- neither which are that convenient) and generally-speaking it’s an inefficient space to commute to. It is certainly a prominent address in Tokyo today, but if you had to actually work there, you’d be annoyed in a few weeks an actually inconvenienced often.
I actually think Yahoo! Japan ought to move if only in principle. If I was a shareholder, and I am not, I would not want the company to be paying the highest rent in Tokyo.
In addition, Mori is the developer behind the new Tadao Ando redesign of Omotesando. They’re very close to completion and it’s clear that the new Omotesando is quite different from the old Omotesando. Most of the people that I’ve spoken to who loved the old Omotesando really dislike the glass and steel monstrosity that Ando has architected. We’ll see what the consumers do because that new “Omotesando Hills” essentially took residential units and exchanged them for more retail and office space. If Omotesando wasn’t already the 5th Avenue of Tokyo, it certainly is now.
Yahoo Japan boss may leave Roppongi Hills to shed negative image – MSN-Mainichi Daily News
hi gen – i heard that yahoo will be moving into the new tokyo mid-town office tower down the street from roppongi hills once they are completed (end of the year?). not that they have great transit access there either…
In one small way, Roppongi Hills was very convenient: The street-level open area around the escalators was a great place to park scooters and motorcycles. Naturally, this benefit could not be tolerated, and now guards block people from parking there.
There is a space under the overpass where you can park for 500 yen, but it fills up fast and it’s hard to maneuver your bike in and out of it.
yes, Roppongi Hills sounds cool but not really nice as work environment. Recently, rent has been increased highly so it must be a wise decision moving out Roppongi Hills. (I am not in Yahoo but working on office moving as well)
IMHO, Roppongi Hills is one of the worst designed buildings I have ever been in. You can get lost in the place and no one actually knows where anything is. I don’t blame Yahoo from moving. I have spoken to several people who work in the Mori Tower saying how confusing and expensive the place is.
As for the Ando building in Omotesando, I think that it will be OK after the settling in period. I really do miss the old Olympic Art Deco buildings but at least they kept one to show what it was like. We will see what will happen there.
Sounds exiting. I’m going there next months.
Roppongi is pretty much the armpit of nowhere in terms of access and aesthetics. IMNSHO *.hills == bad taste
I love staying at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills when visiting Tokyo. But only because I can walk to my company’s Tokyo office from there. Otherwise, I’d probably stay somewhere more central. Roppongi has always been inconvenient for transportation. The addition of the Oedo line is only a slight upgrade in that regard.
The genius of the Mori folks is that they’ve gotten people to pay a premium despite the difficulties of the location. Buildings in places like Hatsudai have to discount to stay competitive – but these guys are charging more than market rates.