Shuwa Investments Corp. quietly added the 35th...

Shuwa Investments Corp. quietly added the 35th building to its U.S. real estate portfolio this summer with the purchase of a 90% interest in the Quaker Tower in Chicago. Yoshio Yamashita, vice chairman of the Japanese company that owns the Arco Towers, said Shuwa’s U.S. portfolio totals $2.3 billion.

“The rental revenue generated is approximately $230 million annually from 14 million square feet,” he said in a presentation to Japanese and American real estate and development companies. “More than half of this investment is in California. It is probable that we rank within the top two investors in the Southern California commercial real estate market among all companies.”

Shuwa has kept a low profile since it made headlines across the country in 1986 when it spent more than $1 billion on a series of multimillion-dollar prime real estate purchases that included the Arco Towers, the ABC Building in New York, 1900 and 1901 Avenue of the Stars in Century City and the Paine Webber Building in Boston. Among Shuwa’s 1987 acquisitions were the U.S. World & News Report Building in Washington, Mellon Financial Center in mid-town Manhattan, the Taco Bell Building in Irvine, former downtown Los Angeles headquarters of Southern California Gas Co. and an office building at 505 N. Brand Ave. in Glendale.

So far this year, Shuwa has acquired an interest in the Quaker Tower partnership for an undisclosed sum, an office building at 201 Santa Monica Blvd., price not disclosed, and a 50% stake in the Embassy Suites Downtown Hotel in Washington for $21.5 million.