Osaka’s city center is going big and going green. This September marked the opening of the first phase of GRAND GREEN OSAKA, a massive urban redevelopment project centered on the Umekita district just north of Japan Railway’s ‘Osaka Station’, the largest terminal in western Japan.
ORIX Group is one of the developers behind GRAND GREEN OSAKA, which will include offices, hotels, core function facilities (JAM BASE), commercial facilities, an urban park, and residences. The underlying concept is ‘Osaka MIDORI (green) LIFE’– providing natural and sustainable living right in the middle of Japan’s second-largest city.
The first elements of this ambitious Y600 billion ($4billion) project to have opened to the public are a large section of the 45,000 m2 park; and JAM BASE, a modern collaboration space with co-working areas, rental offices and exchange spaces where startups, venture capitalists, students, research institutes and government organizations can meet and share ideas.
The project’s first hotel has already opened: Canopy by Hilton Osaka Umeda. This is the first hotel under Hilton’s lifestyle brand in Japan, and Hilton’s fourth hotel in Osaka overall. Canopy by Hilton is aimed at both tourists and business travelers and offers 308 rooms, three dining facilities, a fitness center and bike rental.
Phased development
Further buildings will open by next spring, in time for the giant Expo 2025 that will be held in Osaka from April, 2025. These include two further hotels, several office blocks, a large selection of shopping outlets and two high-end residential apartment towers, with final completion in fiscal year 2027.
The Canopy by Hilton Osaka Umeda will be followed in due course by the more upmarket Hotel Hankyu GRAN RESPIRE OSAKA with 482 rooms and, finally, the 252-room Waldorf Astoria Osaka, Hilton’s highest-end luxury marque, with a spa, pool, banquet halls and its iconic ‘Peacock Alley’ lounge and bar.
Two modern office blocks, the 39-floor Park Tower and the 18-floor Gate Tower are expected to open, offering flexible modern offices and high environmental standards through district and geothermal heating, as well as high-quality public spaces.
Meanwhile, the development will be bookended by two luxury condominium towers that are being built at its northern and southern ends. The North Residence, which is set to be completed first, in December 2025, is designed around a ‘palatial’ theme with a grand entrance and upscale public areas.
The 46-story tower has rooms with a ‘car gallery’, allowing you to bring your car into the apartment via private elevator and display it as a piece of art – surely the ultimate residence for the kind of successful entrepreneur that GRAND GREEN OSAKA is hoping to attract and, indeed, help create.
ORIX’s Real Estate division will manage both Hilton brand hotels and outsource their operations to Hilton under management contracts, bringing the number of hotels and resorts it manages to 26 across Japan. In addition, ORIX Real Estate will operate JAM BASE, and is working with Mitsubishi Real Estate, Hankyu and the other consortium members on overall project management.
Staying patient
This gigantic project’s history dates back to 2002 when the area was a Japan Railway cargo yard, remembers Toyonori Takahashi, ORIX’s Group Kansai Representative. “The original concept of GRAND FRONT OSAKA, the first phase of the Umekita project, was to create a knowledge capital hub where interactions between diverse people could spark ideas that create new value.”
The first phase, known as GRAND FRONT OSAKA, opened in April 2013 in the wake of the ‘Lehman shock’ as the global financial crisis is known in Japan.
And a decade later, with the launch of GRAND GREEN OSAKA, the ambition to transform “Kansai’s gateway”, as the Umekita district is known, is increasingly on track.
And while it has taken years for this complex development to assume shape, Mr. Takahashi points out that staying patient and adapting flexibly to changing circumstances is key in project management.
However, as a company founded in Osaka and with many significant businesses across Kansai, from running its airports to managing hotels, an aquarium and – in the future – Japan’s first integrated resort, ORIX is committed to supporting and promoting the region. And taking on big projects like GRAND GREEN OSAKA is a part of that.
“I have been involved in numerous businesses across the region”, he adds, “and the purpose of projects like Umekita is to raise the status of Kansai. We are not necessarily competing with Tokyo or just with Tokyo, but with metropolitan areas throughout Asia.”
And this commitment extends beyond pure business. Over the past two decades, support from ORIX has turned its Osaka-based Buffaloes baseball team from also rans to regular Japan Series champions in 2022. “What is good for ORIX is good for Kansai – and vice versa”, Mr. Takahashi concludes.
