ProLogis Launches $360M in Japan Projects

TOKYO-ProLogis is starting $360 million of new development in key markets in Japan, where it launched its first project just three years ago but has plans for more than 6 million sf of facilities. The Denver-based provider of distribution facilities and services says it starting work on three distribution buildings totaling approximately 2.2 million sf in Tokyo and Osaka.In Misato City, which is located in the Tokyo metropolitan area, ProLogis will launch construction this quarter for ProLogis Parc Misato, a previously announced $86-million build-to-suit facility for The Seiyu, Ltd., one of the top retailers in Japan and a company in which Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has a 37% minority interest. The specific size of the facility was not immediately available. Construction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2006.In Koto ward, one of the prime logistics markets in Tokyo ProLogis has acquired land and will start construction this quarter of ProLogis Parc Tokyo II, an infill project. The $180-million building will be a seven-story multi-tenant facility. The specific size of the facility was not immediately available. Construction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2006.In the Osaka submarket, ProLogis is constructing a 785,230-sf facility that is being built to suit “a major Japan-domiciled company.” Called ProLogis Parc Maishima I, the $93-million project will be a six-story, ramp-served facility.Last spring, ProLogis announced a $200-million initiative to develop 1.2 million sf in the Narita and Yokohama submarkets of Tokyo that, when completed, would give the company 5.8 million sf of industrial space in Japan. The larger of the two projects, ProLogis Parc Yokohama will be one of the flagships of the company’s global port strategy and its first project in Yokohama, Japan’s second largest city. The class A, four-story, multi-tenant facility will have 1 million sf of distribution space and be located at the Port of Yokohama, the second-largest port in Japan in terms of cargo volume. In Narita, the company announced ProLogis Parc Narita II, a 224,408-sf two-story distribution facility to be built in Shibayama City, 40 miles northeast of Tokyo in the Chiba Prefecture. All told, ProLogis controls 291 million sf in 1,972 distribution facilities in 70 markets in North America, Europe and Asia.