Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjuku Grand Tower

A 40-storey, 195-metre office tower completed in 2011 through the Nishi-Shinjuku 8-chome Naruko District urban redevelopment project. Designed by Nikken Sekkei and managed by Sumitomo Realty, the tower stands at the southern edge of the Nishi-Shinjuku skyscraper district — and uniquely shares its site with a preserved Shinto shrine.

Use

Office tower

Area

Shinjuku City

Completed

2011

Floors

40 above ground, 3 below

Height

195 m

Total floor area

approx. 138,600 m²

Developer

Nishi-Shinjuku 8-chome Naruko District Urban Redevelopment Association

Architect

Nikken Sekkei

A Tower at the Southern Edge of Nishi-Shinjuku

At Nishi-Shinjuku 8-chome, near the southern fringe of the Nishi-Shinjuku skyscraper district, Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjuku Grand Tower was completed in October 2011. The tower rises to 40 storeys above ground and three below, reaching a height of 195 metres. It was brought into existence through the Nishi-Shinjuku 8-chome Naruko District Urban Redevelopment Association, a body formed by multiple landholders who consolidated the former mixed-use neighbourhood — a mosaic of housing, shops, and light industrial buildings — into a single large project. Nikken Sekkei handled the design, while a joint venture of Taisei Corporation and Konoike Construction carried out the construction. The total floor area stands at approximately 138,600 square metres.

The cluster of skyscrapers that defines Nishi-Shinjuku grew up in the 1970s mainly across the northern part of the sub-centre. The Naruko District, further south, was slower to consolidate because of its fragmented land ownership and a complex web of existing tenancies. Once the redevelopment association was formed and Sumitomo Realty took on the management role, the project broke ground in 2008 and delivered the finished tower within three and a half years. The lower floors accommodate retail and commercial tenants; the upper floors are given over to offices.

A Shrine Within the Tower’s Grounds

What distinguishes this tower from its neighbours is the Naruko Tenjin Shrine, which remains on the site. The redevelopment relocated and carefully reinstated the shrine precinct within the overall footprint, so that the courtyard and hall of a Shinto shrine now sit in the shadow of a glass-and-steel curtain-wall tower. Preserving a historic sacred space inside a high-rise development is uncommon, and it took sustained negotiation with the local community to achieve. The result — a lantern-lit shrine approach running alongside the base of a 195-metre tower — makes for one of the more unexpected scenes in a Nishi-Shinjuku walk.

Because the tower sits south of the main cluster, viewers approaching from the Odakyu line corridor or from the Yoyogi side see the Grand Tower in the foreground with the older generation of skyscrapers receding behind it — an unusual vantage point that gives a sense of how the district has grown over five decades.

Summary

Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjuku Grand Tower is a 40-storey, 195-metre office tower completed in October 2011 through urban redevelopment of the Naruko District in Nishi-Shinjuku. Designed by Nikken Sekkei, the project preserved the Naruko Tenjin Shrine within its site, placing a traditional precinct at the foot of a modern high-rise. The tower marks the southern boundary of the Nishi-Shinjuku skyline and is worth a visit for the contrast between the gleaming curtain wall above and the quiet lanterns below.

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