Narita Air Cargo Center is AMB's first development project in Japan. To jump start its operations, the company recently acquired three existing distribution centers. It paid $35.9 million for Saitama Distribution Center, a 363,000-sf park comprised of two multistory buildings comprised located five minutes from the Kanetsu Expressway in Tokorozawa, metropolitan Tokyo. It also paid $22 million for Funabashi Distribution Centers I and II. The Funabashi properties total 252,600 sf and are located between Narita International Airport and the Tokyo central business district. All three properties are 100% leased.

Entitlements and infrastructure improvements for Narita Air Cargo Center have been completed. Plans call for the buildings to be delivered in three phases between 2005 and 2007. Phase I contains two buildings of two and four stories totaling 685,000 sf. When all three phases are complete, the development is expected to be Japan's largest dedicated air cargo logistics park.

"Tokyo, including the submarket surrounding Narita International Airport, represents an excellent global opportunity for development of modern distribution buildings," says AMB chairman Hamid Moghadam. "The Narita submarket in particular has been underserved for air-cargo-related space, characterized by the current low vacancy rate and long waiting list for on-airport facilities.