Top Japanese Developer of U.S. Property Bows Out : Real estate: Mitsui Fudosan’s Okitami Komada opts to consult.
After helping shape the skyline of Los Angeles, New York and other cities during a massive 1980s building spree, the president of one of the most powerful and successful Japanese-owned real estate development firms in the United States has resigned.
Okitami Komada, who for the past five years was president and chief executive of Mitsui Fudosan U.S.A. Inc., a unit of Tokyo-based real estate concern Mitsui Fudosan Co., left Friday to form his own real estate consulting firm, Komada International. Komada, 52, is succeeded by 54-year-old Mitsui Fudosan Chairman Shuhei Okuda, who will retain his titleand split his time between Los Angeles and Mitsui’s offices in Hawaii.
While many Japanese real estate firms are licking their wounds from over-expansion in the United States, Mitsui--whose half dozen major U.S. properties include the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki, the Sanwa Bank Plaza in downtown Los Angeles and the former Exxon building in New York City--has improved its bottom line and been able to attract tenants by emphasizing construction quality and developing close relations with local real estate professionals, experts say.
“Mitsui has been one of the more successful foreign investors in the market,” said Dan Matsumoto, vice president of YM Investments, a Torrance-based real estate management and consulting firm. “They’ve been very wise in turning to local talent for expertise on projects.”
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1991, Mitsui’s parent company had net income of $293.5 million on revenue of $8.9 billion, up from 1989’s $221.4 million net on revenue of $5.5 billion. Figures for fiscal 1992 were not available.
Mitsui, founded in Tokyo in 1941, has benefited from more than 20 years of experience in the United States and broad community involvement, said Yukuo Takenaka, a Los Angeles-based investment banker. Unlike many Japanese firms, Takenaka said, Mitsui executives have for years taken active roles in organizations such as United Way and thus have had an easier time networking.
“Most foreign investors in the U.S. have a tremendous (knowledge) handicap. Their only real strength is money, but that is not enough” to succeed, Komada said. “We had the right relationships.”
Mitsui, which plans to build a 400-room hotel on the corner of 8th and Figueroa streets in the next few years, has also thrived by lavishing attention and money on its tenants.
The companies occupying Mitsui’s Sanwa Bank Plaza, for instance, were welcomed with a champagne reception and commemorative plaques. Once they moved into the swanky marble and glass tower on Wilshire and Figueroa streets, Mitsui installed a full-time concierge as well as a lobby piano player to serenade tenants and visitors during lunch hour.
The $250-million, 52-story structure, completed in 1990 as Southern California’s real estate slump was taking hold, is more than 93% leased. Meanwhile, Mitsui reached 93% occupancy in its 50%-owned 611 W. 6th St. building after spending $9 million on renovation and snaring AT&T; as a major tenant last year.
Komada said his consulting company will offer advice to foreign investors seeking to develop projects in the United States. Okuda said Mitsui has signed on as Komada’s first client.
