A Successful Bid for Land Belonging to the Japanese National Railways Settlement Corporation

In order to achieve that purpose, the Nishi-Umeda Development Council was formed in 1987. The goal was to carry out urban development that would befit the area’s status as the gateway to Osaka by creating appealing urban spaces with multiple functions related to business, accommodations, commerce, and culture, while striving to maintain pedestrian-friendly spaces with plentiful amenities.

Daibiru’s involvement in the Nishi-Umeda area began in 1996, when the company won a bid it had submitted using the building proposal method for a portion of 4,528 m² of a property 15,701 m² in size, which was the western half of some land roughly 26,000 m², in size that had previously been home to the Osaka container yard of Japan National Railways and was now the property of the Japanese National Railways Settlement Corporation (JNRSC). The acquisition of this property in Nishi-Umeda was the start of a project that would form the core of the Nishi-Umeda Area Redevelopment Project (Osaka Garden City, or OGC), which was one of three large development project in Osaka along with OAP (Osaka Amenity Park) and OBP (Osaka Business Park).

What building proposal method are we talking about here? This method of selling land worked as follows: (1) The JNRSC selects a winning bidder to purchase the land and borrows the bid amount from the purchaser. (2) An investment company wholly owned by the JNRSC (Rail City West Development) constructs the building in accordance with the building plan proposed by the bidder. (3) Upon completion of the building, the loan is offset against the land cost, and the land and building are simultaneously delivered to the successful bidder in exchange for the construction costs. This method, which is sometimes called the proposal method, not only makes high-quality construction possible because the most suitable developer for the project can be selected, but also has the advantage of being less costly, less labor-intensive, and less time-consuming than the competition method.

Daibiru submitted the winning bid as a joint bidder with Hotel Monterey owner Maruito Co., Ltd., National Federation of Health Insurance Societies (now Hakuhokai Group) Osaka Central Hospital, Yasuda Life Insurance Company (now Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company), and Taisei Corporation, with the latter two companies participating in the construction of the office building. Construction of the office building got underway at a suitable location situated in almost the exact center of the property.