Air Rise Tower

Completed in 2006, this 42-story, approximately 144-meter residential tower was the flagship housing block of the Rise City Ikebukuro redevelopment. It was one of the earliest high-rise buildings to transform the Higashi-Ikebukuro district.

Use

Residential tower

Area

Toshima City

Completed

2006

Floors

42 above ground

Height

144.51 m

Developer

Higashi-Ikebukuro 4-chome District Redevelopment Association

An Early Tower in the Rise of Higashi-Ikebukuro

At 4-5-1 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima City — a brief walk east of Ikebukuro Station — Air Rise Tower was completed in December 2006. Standing 42 stories and approximately 144 meters tall, the building was developed as the main residential component of the “Rise City Ikebukuro” Higashi-Ikebukuro 4-chome District First-Class Urban Redevelopment Project.

Before the redevelopment, this part of Higashi-Ikebukuro contained a fine-grained patchwork of lots and low-rise buildings — a product of postwar land readjustment that had left the district’s potential largely untapped. The Rise City Ikebukuro project brought together the district’s landowners to create a new urban block with a high-rise residential tower as its centerpiece, introducing a new scale to the neighborhood that had previously been absent.

A Precursor to Larger Redevelopments

Air Rise Tower’s significance extends beyond its own program. By demonstrating that tall residential development was viable in eastern Ikebukuro, the project helped lay the groundwork for subsequent transformations of the district. The neighboring Owl Tower — completed five years later in 2011 at 52 stories and 182.8 meters — continued the pattern Air Rise Tower had established.

Meanwhile, the former Japan Mint site in Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-chome, close by, is the subject of a large-scale mixed-use redevelopment scheduled for completion around 2028. The angle of the neighborhood’s ネタ帳 (story list) describes Air Rise Tower as representing “the high-rising of Ikebukuro before the former mint site” — a recognition that this tower arrived ahead of the area’s most ambitious chapter, quietly charting the course.

Summary

Air Rise Tower was completed in 2006 as a 42-story, approximately 144-meter residential tower — the housing centerpiece of the Rise City Ikebukuro urban redevelopment in Higashi-Ikebukuro 4-chome. It stands as an early landmark of the systematic transformation that has been reshaping the east side of Ikebukuro, and walking past it today invites reflection on how far, and how high, the neighborhood has come.

Related: Owl Tower ｜ Brillia Tower Ikebukuro

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