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14-621: Constructed by building tycoon Minoru Mori , the mega-complex incorporates office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes, movie theatres, a museum, a hotel, a major TV studio, an outdoor amphitheatre, and a few parks. The centrepiece of the complex is the 54-story Roppongi Hills Mori Tower . Mori's stated vision was to build an integrated development where high-rise inner-urban communities allow people to live, work, play, and shop in proximity to eliminate commuting time. The company argued that this would increase leisure time, quality of life, and benefit Japan's national competitiveness. 17 years after

28-482: Is far from being user friendly—don't count on full protection from autumn showers or sudden gusts of wind generated by the buildings themselves. Mori Building has financed the project with $ 800 million equity and $ 1.3 billion in debt from a syndicate of banks led by the Development Bank of Japan. As a result, the company's overall debts are $ 5.6 billion, secured by billions more in assets. Goldman Sachs & Co.,

42-607: Is found on many real estate developments in Japan . Minoru and his brother Akira were listed on the Forbes list of the world's richest men. His largest project was the Roppongi Hills development in Tokyo , which opened in 2003. The Shanghai World Financial Center , once China's tallest building, was completed in 2008. Mori acknowledged the influence of Le Corbusier but believed he had surpassed

56-557: Is on top of an embankment opposite the Arena. Residents say several residents have been forced out by the noise. Henry Hilton of the Japan Today news aggregator website criticised the development when he argued: Yet the truth is that the crowds are unlikely to return once they have been exhausted by the charade of inconvenient walkways that appear almost intentionally to confuse all but those with perfect map navigational skills. The whole maze

70-529: The Mori Tower lies the Keyakizaka Street, famous for its night illumination of 1.2 million shining LEDs that begin in mid-November and run until Christmas Day. Keyakizaka also features cafes and luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton . Nearby are the four Roppongi Hills residence towers, with a total of 793 residential apartments. Large open spaces have been built into the design of Roppongi Hills. About half of

84-879: The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler , together with the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi . According to the Mori-Group, project partners in Tokyo, they were able to count three million visitors over the six weeks of the exhibition. The American School in Japan 's Early Learning Center is housed in a residence building next to the Hills, the Roppongi Sakura-zaka Residence. A playground adjacent to

98-716: The Swiss architect's urban designs, particularly in the Roppongi Hills project. In 2006, Mori's last development, Omotesando Hills , opened near Harajuku station consisting of a set of ramped shopping floors. In 2008, he was named Asia Businessman of the Year 2007 by Fortune magazine. In 2009, he was honoured as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II . He died of heart failure in 2012. He

112-513: The Tokyo City View with panoramic views of the city. A new exit from Roppongi Station empties into a glass atrium filled with large television screens and escalators, as well as several shops and restaurants. The rest of the building is office space. Around the Mori Tower are several smaller buildings predominantly occupied by shops and restaurants, a cinema complex and the Mori Garden. Behind

126-462: The area consists of gardens, pavilions, and other open spaces. The Mori Garden, an elaborate and authentic Japanese garden complete with a pond and trees is particularly popular. The garden is part of a lost mansion that housed members of the feudal Mōri clan . On Roppongi Hills the exhibition of the United Buddy Bears was shown in 2005 for the first time in Japan. The exhibition was opened by

140-627: The complex, near the school, is known in English as Robot Park and has robot-themed play equipment. The headquarters of TV Asahi is also situated in Roppongi Hills, next to the Mori Garden. The building was designed by architect Fumihiko Maki . Roppongi Hills Arena is a facility with large outdoor speakers, in proximity to older housing. Since the construction of the Roppongi Hills development, complaints of noise pollution from older residents have been ignored by Mori Building management, according to residents. The building most directly suffering from noise

154-501: The design's initial conception, the complex opened to the public on April 25, 2003. The architecture and use of space is documented in the book Six Strata: Roppongi Hills Redefined . Roppongi Hills cost over $ 4 billion and was built on a 27-acre (109,000 m) site. The site amalgamated more than 400 smaller lots Mori acquired over 14 years. Mori Tower is a 54-story high-rise building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox that houses an art museum, restaurants, cafes, clinics, stores, as well as

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168-600: The land used for the development of Roppongi Hills. Minoru Mori Minoru Mori ( 森 稔 , Mori Minoru , August 24, 1934 – March 8, 2012) was considered to be one of Japan 's most powerful and influential building tycoons. He joined the real estate business of his father, Taikichiro Mori , after graduating from the University of Tokyo and was president and CEO of Mori Building , of which he and his older brother Kei's (a university professor) families owned 100%. He owned 12.74% of Sunwood Corporation. The family name

182-462: The offices of Allen & Overy , Barclays Capital , Ferrari Japan, Goldman Sachs , J-WAVE , Konami , Time Inc. , Chevron , BASF , Lenovo , Mercari , Baidu , GREE , BP , SAS Institute and Google . The Pokémon Company also has its headquarters in the Mori Tower. The first six levels of Mori Tower contain retail stores and restaurants. The top six floors house the Mori Art Museum and

196-515: The project's anchor tenant, attracted deep discounts in rental prices because of the large amount of space it occupies. Japan's sluggish economy, staff cuts by foreign companies, and the flow of new office space have put downward pressure on rents. Because of eminent domain law in Japan, several past residents of the site that would be Roppongi Hills have been given residential units in the complex in return for their agreement to vacate their prior homes, so that their prior homes would be demolished and

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