Japanese Firm to Help Build Hotel : Emerald-Shapery Complex to Begin in Fall Downtown
San Diego developer Sandor Shapery couldn’t have found a more diverse partner than Tokyu Corp., the Japanese conglomerate that signed a $100-million joint venture agreement Tuesday to build the $132-million, 30-story Emerald-Shapery hotel and office complex.
Ground-breaking for the high-rise, which will feature angled hexagons that rise 12 to 30 stories above street level, is scheduled for September, with completion by mid-1989, Shapery said. The complex will include a 497-room hotel, 17,000 square feet of commercial space and 375,400 square feet of office space.
Bars, Tattoo Parlors to Go
The hotel, which will sit on a block bounded by Broadway and State, Columbia and C streets, now is home to several bars and tattoo parlors.
Shapery acquired his first parcel on the block in 1979, when he proposed that the city build a convention center at the site.
Tokyu will use its corporate funds to provide the $100 million in construction financing.
The hotel will be the fourth U.S. property for Tokyu’s Hawaii-based Emerald Hotel subsidiary. Emerald operates a hotel near Disneyland and two others in Hawaii.
But hotels are just one of Tokyu’s many businesses.
The Tokyo-based company reported $16 billion in revenue in 1986. Its 88,000 employees are scattered throughout Japan and the world. The conglomerate has 328 separate companies that are involved in transportation, development, retail sales and recreation.
In Japan, Tokyu’s transportation companies operate bus, railway and airline companies. Its Tokyu Car Corp. manufactures Japan’s fabled high-speed “bullet trains.”
First Project in 1953
The company’s development arm undertook its first project in 1953 on a 12,360-acre tract near Tokyo. Tokyu since has developed ski resorts, golf courses, a dam and highways.
Tokyu has also built single-family homes in Seattle. In 1986, Tokyu built the scenic Pan Pacific office and retail complex in Vancouver, Canada, that served as the Canadian Pavilion during the Canadian Expo.
The corporation operates 10 department stores in Japan, 4 in Hawaii and 1 each in Hong Kong and Bangkok. Tokyu also owns 82 supermarkets in and around Tokyo.
Tokyu operates a string of hotels and inns in Japan with more than 12,000 rooms. It also operates tennis, golf and ski resorts, movie theaters, museums and swimming schools.
It operates gasoline stations, owns the MasterCard credit card name in Japan, and operates the fourth-largest advertising agency in Japan.
