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- Emi Terrace Tokorozawa opens at the west exit of Tokorozawa Station: A 10-year Urban Development Initiative of Seibu Group and Sumitomo Corporation
2024.9.20
Business
Emi Terrace Tokorozawa opens at the west exit of Tokorozawa Station: A 10-year Urban Development Initiative of Seibu Group and Sumitomo Corporation

The real estate business, in the form of community-based urban development, has always been one of Sumitomo Corporation's unique businesses. In Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, we have been working with the Seibu Group for nearly a decade to develop retail facilities around Tokorozawa Station. In September 2024, Emi Terrace Tokorozawa, a retail facility at the west exit of the station designed to attract customers from surrounding areas will open as the final piece of this station-front development. In this discussion, representatives from Seibu Group and Sumitomo Corporation share their thoughts and visions for urban development.
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General Manager, Urban Development Business Department and General Manager, Trackside Development Business Office, Urban Development Business Department, Seibu Realty Solutions, Inc.
Ryuichi Sato
Joining Seibu Railway in 1994, Ryuichi Sato started in the Engineering and Accounting Departments. He then transitioned to the First Business Strategy Office (now the First Business Strategy Department) of Seibu HD, where he contributed to the Seibu Group's reorganization and Seibu Railway's general operations. Since 2014, he has been involved in design, construction supervision and facility management operations at Seibu Properties (now Seibu Realty Solutions). Since April 2020, following a secondment to the Group's consolidated subsidiary Izu Hakone Railway, he has been focused on development projects along Seibu Railway lines.
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Sumitomo Corporation, Retail Properties Business Unit
Naoki Asahi
Naoki Asahi has been engaged in the real estate business since joining the company in 2006. After working in the condominium development business and as a trainee in the U.S., he began working in the Retail Properties Business Unit in 2012, where he gained experience in site acquisition, development and operation of retail facilities. He has overseen development at Tokorozawa since the project was launched in 2013 and has been involved in the development and operation of the Grand Emio Tokorozawa and Emi Terrace Tokorozawa station-front retail facilities for over a decade.
Transforming Tokorozawa, an Important Base for the Seibu Group, from a Commuter Town to a Town for Living
Tell us about the history of the redevelopment project in front of Tokorozawa Station that Seibu Group and Sumitomo Corporation have been working on.
Sato Ten years ago, in 2014, the Seibu Group announced the "Basic Policy on the Development of the Tokorozawa Area," starting with the area in front of Tokorozawa Station and aiming to make the Tokorozawa area and areas along the Seibu Line livelier and more appealing. Tokorozawa Station, where Seibu Railway's main Shinjuku and Ikebukuro lines intersect, is an important transportation hub used by more than 200,000 passengers per day, including approximately 100,000 passengers per day getting on and off at the station and 100,000 passengers transferring to other lines inside the ticket gates. However, when the basic policy was established, Tokorozawa was a typical commuter town with a relatively small daytime population. Its potential was not being fully realized.
We decided to build a new lifestyle exchange center in the Tokorozawa station-front area to provide various conveniences and facilities that the area has never had before, and to transform the area from a "bed town" to a "living town" incorporating four elements: living, working, learning and playing. Seibu Group has been involved in the creation of many station-based and station-basement retail facilities, but in the case of large-scale redevelopment of an entire town, we felt we needed a partner that would accompany and support us on the journey. We therefore decided to work on the development together with Sumitomo Corporation.

What led Seibu Group to choose Sumitomo Corporation as its partner?

Sato Sumitomo Corporation has a policy of "community-made" development and management, which aligns retail facilities with the values and characteristics of each area. Seibu Group shares this stance, and this was a major factor behind our decision. We had high expectations for Sumitomo Corporation’s development and operational expertise, which has been cultivated through the development of large-scale retail facilities, such as the Terrace Mall Shonan and others across the country.
Asahi Sumitomo Corporation develops and operates retail facilities throughout Japan, such as Plare Matsudo, Selva (Sendai City), Mewe Hashimoto and Mikage Classe, but as you can see, the names of the facilities are all different. This is because those in charge of development have named each facility individually, after identifying the values and characteristics of each region. Terrace Mall Shonan, a culmination of the know-how Sumitomo Corporation has cultivated, inspired us to expand the Terrace Mall series as much as possible. However, the most important thing is to align with the wishes of Seibu Group, which has been a part of the city of Tokorozawa for more than a century. Although we could have prioritized branding with "Terrace Mall Tokorozawa," we decided on "Emi Terrace Tokorozawa," a hybrid of Seibu Group's commercial facility "Emio" and Sumitomo Corporation's "Terrace Mall," names that are dear to both companies.
Using the Terrace Concept To Connect Directly to the Station and Create a Unique Urban Environment
What synergies have been created through the two companies working together on this project?
Asahi Sumitomo Corporation develops and operates many types of retail facilities throughout Japan, and I have been involved in numerous such projects myself. But I learned a lot from working on this project. One valuable lesson was the development of a retail facility that takes advantage of the geographical location of an actual station building, which was only possible through collaboration with the Seibu Group, the railway operator. While Sumitomo Corporation has previously been involved in the development of station buildings within a minute’s walk of the station, the Grand Emio Tokorozawa is directly connected to the station, right outside the ticket gates. Through this project, I was also reminded of the strength of Seibu Group's transportation business, which includes not only railways but also buses, cabs, parking lots, bicycle parks and all other transportation-related businesses along the entire railway line. We are confident that by leveraging Seibu Group's solid presence along railway lines, Sumitomo Corporation's operational expertise, and our network as an integrated trading and business investment company, we will be able to create a highly appealing retail facility that is appropriate for the region.

Grand Emio Tokorozawa, on the east side of the station, opened in 2020. How do you see the position of Emi Terrace Tokorozawa, which opens in September 2024?

Asahi The concept of Emi Terrace Tokorozawa is summed up in the phrase "Tokorozawa New Suburban Life." We aim to offer a lifestyle and new experiences that allow people to enjoy the benefits of both the city and the suburbs. Compared to Grand Emio Tokorozawa at the east exit, Emi Terrace Tokorozawa at the west exit is designed to attract visitors from further away who will stay longer. It features a rooftop garden with panoramic views of Mount Fuji and a large food court with about a thousand seats, designed along a forest theme. We are leveraging the terrace philosophy, which has proved popular in our Terrace Mall developments, with a view to creating a comfortable space that is fun, relaxing and people want to come back to. We also incorporate the concept ofa "third place" that is neither home, workplace nor school.
Sato Tokorozawa is a popular area, not only because of its excellent transport links to central Tokyo—only 19 minutes to Ikebukuro Station and 28 minutes to Seibu Shinjuku Station—but also because of its rich natural environment, including Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park, and leisure and entertainment facilities like Seibu-en Amusement Park and Belluna Dome, home to one of only 12 professional baseball teams in the country. We hope that Emi Terrace Tokorozawa will attract visitors from far and wide, who will stay for an extended period and come to appreciate all that the city has to offer. Ultimately, we hope that some of these visitors will choose to relocate to Tokorozawa.
We are also working with local authorities to ensure urban development proceeds in a way that makes it easier for people to navigate Tokorozawa. While the city has developed roads and pedestrian decks, we in the private sector have created facilities that will attract more visitors.


What kind of facility is Emi Terrace Tokorozawa, exactly?


Sato Emi Terrace has 142 diverse stores in total, including some first-in-Saitama prefecture stores and local specialty shops. Genre-wise, we have fashion, general merchandise, food and beverages, as well as movie theaters. We are particularly conscious of the needs of families with children as well as active seniors and have tried to ensure that everything one might need can be found in one place without having to go into the city.
One feature to look out for is the "TOKOROZAWA e-CUBE", a large 635-square-meter space with a 547-inch screen located in the center of the second floor. Through collaboration with the Kadokawa Musashino Museum and other cultural facilities in the vicinity, we hope to provide new experiential value. Incidentally, the facility was built on the former site of the Seibu Railway Tokorozawa Works. As a legacy of the site’s past, we have incorporated tracks in part of the area where the factory’s railways once stood, symbolizing the facility while remembering its history.
Increasing Tokorozawa's Appeal and Attracting New Residents
Looking back on the challenges of this project, what are your plans for future urban development?
Asahi In the past 10 years, the most challenging time was probably the opening of Grand Emio Tokorozawa in 2020, in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. We had to open the facility during a time when we couldn’t have as many customers as we would have liked due to the need to avoid crowding. Although we didn't have the strong start we had hoped for, the facility has continued to grow steadily with the support of local people as well as people arriving by train. Given the success of Grand Emio Tokorozawa, we're very much looking forward to the opening of Emi Terrace Tokorozawa.
It has become more challenging in recent years to develop large-scale commercial facilities due to rising prices and construction costs, so we were fortunate to be able to open a large-scale retail facility with approximately 43,000 square meters of retail space. We managed to complete the project without compromising on quality, despite some unexpected challenges. Moving forward, we will continue to evolve the facility and the surrounding city in partnership with the community and Seibu Group.
Sato Urban development cannot take place without the understanding of people living along the railway line. Even after the opening, we will continue to work with Sumitomo Corporation to enrich the community, with the vision of making Tokorozawa a truly wonderful place to live.
Asahi Exactly. We don’t want to limit the development to just the area in front of Tokorozawa Station; we hope to create a circulatory system whereby customers visiting the retail facility will also explore nearby shopping streets and take buses to places like Tokorozawa Sakura Town, home to the Kadokawa Musashino and other museums. By enhancing the synergy between Seibu Group and Sumitomo Corporation, we aim to increase foot traffic, attract more visitors, and ultimately encourage more people to make Tokorozawa their home. Stay tuned for future developments!
