Mitsui Fudosan and Ascott put a 184-room Oakwood Premier atop Tokyo Station's tallest new tower

Mitsui Fudosan and Singapore's Ascott Limited said they will open a 184-room Oakwood Premier serviced residence across the top four floors of YAESU CORE, the final and tallest of the three towers in Mitsui Fudosan's redevelopment of the Yaesu district opposite Tokyo Station, according to a joint release dated October 13. Oakwood Premier YAESU CORE Tokyo will occupy floors 40 to 43 of the tower, with its lobby, lounge, restaurant and fitness room on the 40th floor -- about 190 metres above the street, the companies said -- and the restaurant open to outside guests as well as residents.

YAESU CORE, part of the Yaesu 2-chome Naka District redevelopment, will rise 43 floors above ground and three below, reaching about 227 metres, with total floor area of about 389,290 square metres on a roughly 19,560 square-metre site, Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsui Fudosan Residential said. The tower is scheduled for completion at the end of January 2029, three minutes' walk from Tokyo Station's Yaesu exit via an underground connection, and will also hold offices, retail, a theatre, an international school and a bus terminal -- the hotel and serviced residence is one use among several in a single large mixed-use building.

The 184 rooms span four layouts -- Studio, 1BED, 2BED and 3BED -- ranging from about 30 to 170 square metres, each with a workspace, storage, kitchen and washing machine, the release said, a layout built for stays from a single night to long-term. Ascott and Mitsui Fudosan are positioning the property for inbound visitors and business travellers, the companies said, pairing Ascott's upper-upscale Oakwood Premier brand with one of the most visible addresses in central Tokyo.

The fifth project in a decade-long partnership

Oakwood Premier YAESU CORE Tokyo is the fifth joint project between Ascott and the Mitsui Fudosan group, following Oakwood Residence Azabu-Juban, Oakwood Premier Tokyo Midtown -- the brand's first Oakwood Premier property in Japan -- Oakwood Residence Roppongi T-Cube and Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Azabu, according to the companies. The release names Shun Ueda, president of Mitsui Fudosan, Toru Kamura, president of Mitsui Fudosan Residential, and Christian Border, president of Ascott Japan; none is quoted.

The format is the point: a serviced residence, not a conventional hotel. Oakwood's long-stay rooms with kitchens and laundry are built for extended visits, and putting one on the uppermost floors of Tokyo Station's newest tower tests whether that demand -- from relocating executives and long-haul business travellers -- can support rents at the very top of a 43-storey building. It also lets Mitsui Fudosan diversify what sits above its retail and office floors: YAESU CORE is the development's third and tallest tower, and a hotel brand on the highest floors gives it an income stream and a marketing anchor distinct from the office leases and shops that will fill the rest of it.

Completion is still more than two years off, so end-January 2029 is the date to watch -- whether the office and retail floors beneath it fill as readily as the signature hotel on top has already been named.