Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the founder and major stakeholder of Berjaya Corp (BCorp), continues to invest billions of ringgit in Japan and develop the Four Seasons brand.
The diverse group yesterday announced to the stock exchange that it would start a brand-new mega-development in Japan that is anticipated to generate a gross development value (GDV) of RM4.46 billion.
Berjaya Yokohama Hospitality Asset TMK (BY-TMK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BCorp, has signed a sale and purchase agreement with the City of Yokohama to buy six parcels of freehold land totaling 2.1 hectares (ha) for RM408.82 million.
According to the filing, the site was the final coastal undeveloped region in Yokohama City, located close to important city monuments including the Yokohama Landmark Tower and the Yokohama Museum of Modern Art.
Based on preliminary research conducted by the BY-TMK management on the property, the company may build the Four Seasons Yokohama Harbour Edge project, which would cost an estimated RM3.28 billion in total (including the cost of purchasing the land).
The project would include a luxury hotel, upscale residences, an aquarium, and retail establishments.
According to the filing, the project's estimated GDV of RM4.46 billion will be recognised throughout its anticipated four-year completion.
BCorp's first Four Seasons development in Japan required an expenditure of US$380 million to transform a hospital into the Four Seasons Hotel (123 rooms) and Hotel Residences Kyoto (57 units), on a five-acre parcel next to an 800-year-old water pond.
Tan bought the property in 2008, the year Lehman Brothers failed and the US subprime mortgage crisis devastated the world economy. The old structure was demolished to make way for the charming Four Seasons Hotel and Hotel Residences Kyoto.
The residences (between 893 and 2,045 sq ft in size), reportedly sold at between US$5,000 and US$6,000 per square foot (psf). At US$5,000 psf, a unit cost between US$4.46 million and US$10.22 million while at US$6,000 psf, it cost between US$5.36 million and US$12.27 million.
The 57 available units would have brought in about US$476.52 million for BCorp, assuming an average price of US$8.36 million, which is already 25 per cent more than the group's initial cost of US$380 million in the development.
In 2020, BCorp made RM649.41 million from the sale of the Four Seasons Hotel to the Japanese company Godo Kaisha Tigre (Tigre).
Around the same time BCorp unveiled the Four Seasons Okinawa, a US$1 billion resort and private residences project that will take three years to complete.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the resort property was held at the project site in Onna Village on October 28, 2020, witnessed by the Mayor of Onna Village, Nagahama Yoshimi, and key representatives from Onna Village and Berjaya Okinawa Development Co Ltd.
Four Seasons Okinawa is being developed by Berjaya Okinawa Development Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berjaya Land (BLand) Bhd, in partnership with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Four Seasons).
It is a low-dense and low-rise resort development, with a total of 279 accommodation units, comprising 127 hotel rooms, 124 condo residences, and 28 villa-type private residences.
The Four Seasons Okinawa is BCorp's second hotel on the island.
The group opened the ANSA Resort Okinawa in November 2019, located in Uruma, the third-largest city in the Okinawa prefecture.