Dec 15 2012
Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Mori Building Co., Ltd. announced today that their affiliates have signed an agreement to launch Andaz Tokyo, the first Andaz hotel in Japan. When it opens in the summer of 2014, Andaz Tokyo will join the brand’s growing portfolio of boutique-style hotels in gateway cities and resort destinations around the globe. Strengthening the Andaz presence in Asia, the new hotel will unite the brand’s creative community focus and refined yet casual atmosphere with the seamless and personalized service for which Japan is known.
Andaz Tokyo will be the fourth Hyatt-branded hotel to open in Tokyo and the ninth to be established in Japan. Hyatt and Mori Building affiliates have collaborated on two other five-star properties in Asia: Park Hyatt Shanghai, which opened in September 2008, and Grand Hyatt Tokyo, which will mark its tenth anniversary in April 2013. With the Japanese launch of the Andaz brand in Toranomon, the birthplace of Mori Building, the two companies affirm their shared commitment to bringing gracious, unscripted service to an urban revitalization project that is focused on providing inventive programs and venues for inspired interactions between residents and visitors alike.
“Currently, nine Andaz hotels are in operation in four countries, with others continually being added to our development pipeline,” said Larry Tchou, executive vice president, group president – Asia Pacific, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. “True to its destination, Andaz Tokyo will convey the well-tailored, refined sensibility of Japan, as well as the vibrant, internationally eclectic spirit of its capital city.”
“With its central location between the high-rise district of Shiodome and the Akasaka and Roppongi areas where many multinational corporations are located, Toranomon is a vital hub for Tokyo’s further development as a global business center,” said Kazuhiko Yamamoto, vice president of urban development for Mori Building. “Andaz Tokyo will both heighten Toranomon’s appeal and serve the needs of international firms here, promising the area’s fast growth as a gateway destination.”
A New, Pedestrian-Friendly Commercial District
Andaz Tokyo will occupy eight floors, including the top six, of a 52-story tower in a multi-use complex now under construction in Toranomon, a business and embassy district located in the capital’s prestigious Minato Ward and one of several areas in the city now designated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a Special Zone for Asian Headquarters. At a height more than 2,600 square feet, the wing-shaped high-rise, designed by Nihon Sekkei, Inc. and constructed by Mori Building, will be the second tallest in the city, housing offices, residences, shops, and conference venues, in addition to Andaz Tokyo with its spa, dynamic restaurant facilities, and 164 guestrooms and suites. The core landmark of a major urban development plan spearheaded by the metropolitan government and stretching between Shinbashi and Toranomon, the tower will boast as its crowning feature Andaz Tokyo’s open-air bar and dynamic event space with outdoor seating on the penthouse level, literally bringing alfresco dining and entertainment to new heights in the city.
A tree-lined boulevard, on the scale of Omotesando’s promenade, will run along the tower’s east-west axis. The building is equidistant to two of the city’s major parks: Hibiya Koen and Shiba Koen, which are both just eight minutes on foot to the north and south respectively. The gardens of Hamarikyu-teien to the east and the Imperial Palace to the north are each a 20-minute walk. For its commercial tenants, the tower’s strategic location in Minato Ward, with easy access to embassies, seaports, and Haneda Airport, is expected to draw the regional headquarters of multinationals and research organizations across a wide number of industries, including the medical, chemical, electronics, precision instruments, finance, securities, and IT fields.
Vibrant Venues
At its pinnacle on the 52nd floor, Andaz Tokyo will feature two facilities that will introduce rooftop flair to the city’s dining scene: an open-air bar and the Andaz Studio, a flexible event and meeting space with terrace seating. Also a first for a high-rise Tokyo hotel, there will be a 65 square foot indoor infinity pool. Located on the building’s 37th floor, the infinity pool, spa, and fitness center will be accessible by tower residents, as well as overnight guests of the hotel. Andaz Tokyo’s 164 guestrooms, which will include 16 suites, will be situated on the 47th through 50th floors, affording views of the Tokyo skyline in all directions. Standard rooms will average 167 square feet, among the most spacious in Tokyo. The largest suite will be 721 square feet in size.
Check-in will be conducted seamlessly upon arrival via handheld tablet devices carried by welcoming hosts. Those guests who prefer a leisurely check-in will be ushered to the Andaz Lounge, a convivial space located on the 51st floor, for complimentary coffee or a glass of wine. An all-day dining restaurant, also located on this floor, will offer fresh, seasonal, and organic fare reflecting the brand’s market-to-table philosophy. The 52nd floor will house a chapel in addition to the open-air bar and Andaz Studio, where a show kitchen will offer made-to-order menus for weddings and special gatherings of all kinds. A pastry shop and café will be situated at street level.
Relevant Designs
Overseeing the interior design of Andaz Tokyo are Tony Chi of the New York-based Tony Chi & Associates, and Shinichiro Ogata, of Simplicity Co., Ltd. in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward. Chi was born in Taiwan and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and he is a graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He has an impressive portfolio of sophisticated global hospitality design projects, including Andaz 5th Avenue in New York and Park Hyatt Shanghai. Ogata, a Nagasaki native, is known for his elegant architectural, interior, and product designs—such as the Higashiya and Higashi-yama teahouses and sweet shops in Tokyo and the ‘SSS’ line of upscale furniture and tableware in porcelain, ceramic, iron, lacquer, pewter, glass, bronze, and wood—all of which celebrate traditional Japanese industrial arts. Together the two designers will draw on Japan’s rich body of aesthetic arts to create spaces that, in keeping with the Andaz mission, stimulate the creative senses of guests in refreshing ways.
Community Focus
The Andaz Salon brand program is comprised of interactive, on-property, and virtual events conceived to support and nurture each hotel’s community of emerging talent. Andaz Tokyo will collaborate with local artists, musicians, designers, and other cultural influencers to deliver events and programs on themes unique to its location in central Tokyo. Andaz Tokyo’s distinctive spaces will be used flexibly to stage creative Andaz Salon events, from talks to exhibitions to live performances. These events can also be experienced through the Andaz Salon website at www.andazsalon.com, where unique content from the brand’s Cultural Insiders is shared.
These creative relationships with Cultural Insiders are intended to spark new connections, provoke ideas, and empower people to shape their surroundings. In addition, Andaz Tokyo will join its sister properties in their support of women in war-torn countries through a collaboration with Women for Women International, an organization dedicated to providing female survivors of war, civil strife, and other conflicts with tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.
Unprecedented Civil Engineering
In an engineering first for the city, an underground tunnel will place a portion of the Loop Road No. 2 arterial road beneath the more than four acre Toranomon site, thereby freeing up the tower’s immediate environs for people-friendly plazas, community pathways, and open vistas. The Shinbashi-Toranomon section of Loop Road No. 2 is scheduled to open to traffic in spring 2014; it is slated to connect with the Wangan-sen Bayshore Route and other traffic networks serving Haneda Airport and the seaport area in 2017.
Loop Road No. 2 (Kanjo Dainigosen)
While the nearly six mile section of Loop Road No. 2 (Kanjo Dainigosen) stretching from Shinbashi to Kanda Sakumacho was pegged for development in 1946, the portion between Shinbashi and Toranomon has until now remained unrealized. With the implementation of new municipal provisions in 1989 allowing the construction of highways and buildings within the same vertical space, plans for the arterial road, its tunnel, and an above-ground redevelopment project were able to proceed in concert. Construction work is now progressing, with the new Shinbashi-Toranomon section of Loop Road No. 2 slated to open in spring 2014.
Source: http://www.hyatt.com/