The Daily Populous Tuesday June 11st, 2024 evening edition
Authored by english.kyodonews.net and submitted by diacewrb

KYODO NEWS - Jun 10, 2024 - 21:13 | All, Japan

Major Japanese developer Sekisui House Ltd. said Monday that it will demolish a nearly completed condominium in western Tokyo, just weeks before transfer to purchasers, after nearby residents complained the building partially blocks the view of Mt. Fuji.

Sekisui House, based in Osaka, said it decided to take down the 10-story, 18-unit condominium in Kunitachi, built along a street known for the view of the iconic 3,776-meter peak, due to "insufficient consideration for the impact on the scenery."

The rare move came despite the developer having held meetings with the residents on the matter and made changes to the structure from the initial plan, such as reducing the number of floors from 11 and lowering the height of each floor.

"We were aware of the (local) culture that values scenery, but we failed to consider it adequately. We also apologize to the contracting parties," a Sekisui House representative said, vowing efforts to prevent a recurrence.

Construction of the condominium, about a 10-minute walk from JR Kunitachi Station, started in January 2023. Most of the units were sold for around 70 million yen ($446,000) to 80 million yen.

Sekisui House reported to the Kunitachi municipal government its decision to cancel the project on Tuesday. The company said it would book construction costs and dismantling fees as extraordinary losses.

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bookchaser on June 11st, 2024 at 12:55 UTC »

Contrary to the sentiment expressed elsewhere in this thread, the developer truly decided to demolish the building because it respected the prevailing opinion of the affected residents. This is totally a Japanese thing to do if you understand Japan.

The company had already jumped through all of the legal hoops with affected residents and could have easily continued with its plan. Feel free to google all of the news coverage. There's not one mention of a hint of a threatened or anticipated lawsuit. Respect is a huge thing in Japan (with the caveat that it doesn't extend to all quarters.... racism and bigotry are also huge in Japan).

CoralinesButtonEye on June 11st, 2024 at 09:50 UTC »

in other words, some rich people who lived near there threw their weight around and made the corpo do what it should have done from the beginning