Hareza Ikebukuro

A cultural district that opened in July 2020 on land once occupied by the former Toshima Ward public hall and civic facilities. Hareza Tower — 33 storeys, approximately 158 metres — anchors eight theatre and performance spaces arranged around Naka-Ikebukuro Park.

Use

Office tower

Area

Toshima City

Completed

2020

Floors

33 above ground, 2 below

Height

158 m

Developer

Tokyo Tatemono / Sankei Building

Architect

Kajima Corporation

A Theatre District Takes Shape in East Ikebukuro

A short walk from Ikebukuro station’s east exit, a block once occupied by the former Toshima Public Hall and related civic facilities has become Hareza Ikebukuro. The redevelopment came about through an inventive public-private partnership: when Toshima City relocated its ward office in 2015, it placed the freed land under a 70-year fixed-term lease and received a lump-sum payment of 19.1 billion yen from the joint developers, Tokyo Tatemono and Sankei Building. That payment effectively funded the city’s new ward office at no direct cost to taxpayers — a model since studied by more than 250 municipal governments across Japan.

The cultural ambition behind the project stems from Toshima City’s “International Art and Culture City” vision, adopted partly in response to the ward being identified in 2015 as one of Japan’s municipalities at risk of demographic decline. Rather than a retail-led mixed-use project, the plan placed performance venues and a public park at its centre, creating a walkable cluster of arts facilities connected to the surrounding streets.

Hareza Tower and Eight Performance Spaces

The development’s tallest structure is Hareza Tower: 33 storeys above ground and two below, reaching approximately 158 metres. Designed and built by Kajima Corporation — with overall design supervision by KAJIMA DESIGN across the whole district — the tower was completed on 29 May 2020 and opened in July of that year. TOHO Cinemas Ikebukuro occupies floors two through six with ten screens; office floors fill the upper storeys; a sky lounge and dining venues occupy an intermediate level.

Around the tower, eight distinct performance spaces are arranged to face Naka-Ikebukuro Park. Tokyo Tatemono Brillia HALL — Toshima City’s official arts and culture theatre — seats 1,248 in its main hall and approximately 160 in its small hall, scaled for major musicals, kabuki and orchestral programmes; it opened in November 2019, ahead of the tower. Toshima Community Centre adds multipurpose halls for local use. A next-generation live venue, harevutai, and a broadcast studio, haresuta, complete the cluster, bringing digital and live performance under one roof.

Summary

Hareza Ikebukuro centres on Hareza Tower — 33 storeys, approximately 158 metres, completed 2020 — and extends through eight theatre and performance spaces arranged around a public park. The financing structure that made it possible, and the deliberate choice to anchor the district in culture rather than commerce, have made the project a widely referenced example of public-private urban regeneration in Japan.

In the same Ikebukuro area, Brillia Tower Ikebukuro, completed in 2015, shows a related model: a residential tower built in tandem with the new Toshima Ward Office. For accommodation near Ikebukuro, Rakuten Travel covers a wide range of options.