Yoshiko Mori
Nora Tam/South China Morning Post/Getty Images
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Japan’s Richest 2020. See the full list here.
Yoshiko Mori’s fortune fell 19% to $1.4 billion, dropping along with the turmoil that has rocked global markets. The Japanese property developer she controls, Mori Building, is moving ahead with a massive $5.4 billion project to redevelop 8.1 hectares in the heart of Tokyo.
The Toranomon-Azabudai project—named for the area where it is located—will be situated in between the company’s three other major developments in Tokyo: Ark Hills, Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills. A multiuse “city within a city” of apartments, offices, restaurants, shops and an international school, the project will have nearly 23,500 occupants and also Japan’s tallest building, a 330m skyscraper (as yet unnamed), that will stand 30 meters taller than the incumbent, Osaka’s Abeno Harukas.
The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t delayed work on the development so far, according to a company spokesperson, and it remains on track for completion by early 2023. The project stands to reverse a long slide in sales in recent years as the company’s supply of new properties dwindled. After three consecutive years of lower revenue, in 2019 Mori Building reported a roughly 16% decline in net income, to ¥18 billion ($176 million), for the six months ended Sept. 30 on a 9% decline in sales, to ¥120 billion.
Aside from its Tokyo projects, the company is known for building China’s tallest skyscraper, the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center. Mori Building manages a portfolio of 100 buildings in China and Japan. Last year, its subsidiary Mori Hospitality bought an undisclosed stake in Hong Kong-based, hospitality-oriented private equity firm Conduit House, giving it exposure to Conduit’s portfolio of hotels in Southeast Asia.
Mori inherited her controlling stake in Mori Building from her late husband Minoru Mori, who ran the company his father Taikichiro Mori founded in 1959 until his own death in 2012 at the age of 77. Mori remains on the company’s board. Her 58-year-old son-in-law Hiroo Mori, now CEO of Mori Hospitality, is expected to eventually take the reins.