Promoting Grade-A Office Districts  with an Upgraded Railway Hub  for Global Business Competitiveness

The districts of Otemachi-Marunouchi-Yurakucho (OMY) are progressively forming into the global business, financial and economic center of the nation. The area is encompassing the oldest and largest railway hub in Japan, similar to Grand Central Station in New York and King’s Cross Square Station in London. Although the area once lost its competitive position, it revived through various redevelopment practices by private entities. The OMY districts were designated under a special law as a Urban Renaissance Urgent Development Area wherein land use regulations are relaxed. Fiscal advantages are also rewarded for private landlords and developers to propose urban redevelopment plans more flexibly and actively in the district. Thanks to a variety of incentives given for private stakeholders by this law, more efficient and profitable redevelopment projects were successfully delivered in the OMY districts.