Hines Buys Greater Osaka Orix Shed to Expand in Japan

Hines has acquired a fully leased warehouse in Greater Osaka for an undisclosed price, with the announcement coming less than two weeks after the US developer and fund manager revealed its purchase of an office building in central Tokyo.

Hines closed the deal for the 60,000 square metre (645,835 square foot) Osaka Minoo Logistics in March, the Houston-based firm said Thursday in a release. The seller wasn’t identified, but the asset fits the description of a four-storey facility built by Japan’s Orix Real Estate in 2022.

Hines said the completed transactions represent the firm’s commitment to deepen its footprint and further expand its growing portfolio in Asia’s second-largest economy.

“Japan remains the most liquid of the major real estate markets in the world with the lowest interest rates,” said country head Jon Tanaka. “We also continue to see demand rise as tenants gravitate towards well-located, green premium buildings, reflecting employers’ growing interest in sustainability as well as talent recruiting.”

Solar System

Located 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) north of the centre of Japan’s third most populated city, Osaka Minoo Logistics is fully powered by renewable energy, including from a solar rooftop. The building has a minimum lot size of 7,600 square metres and can house up to five tenants, according to Orix Real Estate.

Mingtiandi reported earlier this month that Hines had acquired the newly built Zenith Minami Shinjuku office building in Yoyogi, a neighbourhood nestled between the buzzy Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo.

Hines took possession of Zenith Minami Shinjuku in December after having previously agreed to acquire the project from Mitsubishi Estate and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing on a forward commitment basis, according to market sources. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The transaction involved Hines taking responsibility for leasing the property post-acquisition, with tenants including Daiwa House-owned architecture design firm Dice Next having already moved in.

“Acquiring high potential assets such as these at the right time is only part of our growth strategy for Japan,” Tanaka said. “We’ve also created value through active asset management including leasing, refurbishment, repositioning and redevelopment.”

Nagoya Disposal

At the beginning of April, Hines announced the sale of a two-warehouse logistics centre near the port of Nagoya to Hong Kong private equity firm PAG.

The larger shed, which Hines built after acquiring the site in November 2021, has more than 218,000 square metres of space across four floors. The sale of that warehouse closed in March after construction was completed, while the deal for the smaller, pre-existing 25,000 square metre shed closed last year.

Supply constraints in Japan’s logistics sector, driven by difficulty in land aggregation, have created greater demand for multi-storey logistics developments, according to the US developer.

As of 2023, family-controlled Hines managed a $1.7 billion portfolio of 32 assets in Japan across the residential, industrial and office sectors totalling 500,000 square metres. The firm has a presence in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Nagoya and Fukuoka.