When it opens in summer 2014, Andaz Tokyo will join the brand's growing portfolio of boutique-style hotels in gateway cities and resort destinations around the globe.

Strengthening the Andaz presence in Asia, the new hotel will unite the brand's creative community focus and refined yet casual atmosphere with the seamless and personalised service for which Japan is famous.

Andaz Tokyo will be the fourth Hyatt-branded hotel to open in Tokyo and the ninth to be established in Japan. Hyatt and Mori Building affiliates have collabourated on two other five-star properties in Asia: Park Hyatt Shanghai, opened in September 2008, and Grand Hyatt Tokyo, which will mark its tenth anniversary in April 2013. With the Japan launch of the community-centred Andaz brand in Toranomon, the birthplace of Mori Building, the two companies affirm their shared commitment to bringing gracious, unscripted, and conscientious service to an urban revitalisation project centred on providing inventive programmes and venues for inspired interactions between residents and visitors alike.

"Currently, nine Andaz hotels are in operation in four countries, with others continually coming under development," said Larry Tchou, Executive Vice President, Group President – Asia, Hyatt Hotels.  "True to its destination, Andaz Tokyo will convey the well-tailored, refined sensibility of Japan as well as the vibrant, internationally eclectic spirit of its capital city."

Kazuhiko Yamamoto, Vice President in charge of urban development for Mori Building, commented, "With its central location between the highrise district of Shiodome and the Akasaka and Roppongi areas where many multinational corporations are located, Toranomon is a vital hub for Tokyo's further development as a global business centre. Andaz Tokyo will both heighten Toranomon's allure and serve the needs of international firms here, promising the area's fast growth as a gateway destination."

A New, Pedestrian-Friendly Commercial District

Andaz Tokyo will occupy eight floors, including the top six of a 52-storey tower in a multi-use complex now under construction in Toranomon, a business and embassy district located in the capital's prestigious Minato Ward and one of several areas in the city now designated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a Special Zone for Asian Headquarters. At a height of 247 metres, the wing-shaped highrise designed by Nihon Sekkei, Inc. and constructed by Mori Building will be the second tallest in the city, housing offices, residences, shops, and conference venues in addition to Andaz Tokyo with its spa, dynamic restaurant facilities, and 164 guestrooms and suites. The core landmark of a major urban development plan spearheaded by the metropolitan government and stretching between Shinbashi and Toranomon, the tower will boast as its crowning feature Andaz Tokyo's open-air bar and dynamic event space offering outdoor seating on the penthouse level, literally bringing alfresco dining and entertainment to new heights in the city.

A tree-lined boulevard, on the scale of Omotesando's promenade, will run along the tower's east-west axis. The building is equidistant to two of the city's major parks: Hibiya Koen and Shiba Koen lie eight minutes on foot to the north and south respectively. The gardens of Hamarikyu-teien to the east and the Imperial Palace to the north are each a 20-minute walk. For its commercial tenants, the tower's strategic location in Minato Ward, with easy access to embassies, seaports, and Haneda Airport, is expected to draw the regional headquarters of multinationals and research organisations across a wide number of industries, including the medical, chemical, electronics, precision instruments, finance, securities, and IT fields.

Vibrant Venues

At its pinnacle on the 52nd floor, Andaz Tokyo will feature two facilities that will introduce rooftop flair to the city's dining scene: an open-air bar and the Andaz Studio, a flexible event and meeting space with terrace seating. Also a first for a highrise Tokyo hotel will be a 20-metre indoor infinity pool. Located on the building's 37th floor, the infinity pool, spa, and fitness centre will be accessible by tower residents as well as overnight guests of the hotel. Andaz Tokyo's 164 guestrooms, which will include 16 suites, will be situated on the 47th through the 50th floors, affording views of the Tokyo skyline in all directions. Standard rooms will average 51 square metres, among the most spacious in Tokyo. The largest suite will be 220 square metres in size.

Check-in will be conducted seamlessly upon arrival via handheld tablet devices carried by welcoming hosts. Those guests who prefer a leisurely check-in will be ushered to the Andaz Lounge, a convivial space located on the 51st floor, for complimentary coffee or a glass of wine. An all-day dining restaurant, also located on this floor, will offer fresh, seasonal, and organic fare reflecting the brand's market-to-table philosophy. The 52nd floor will house a chapel in addition to the open-air bar and Andaz Studio, where a show kitchen will offer made-to-order menus for weddings and special gatherings of all kinds. A pastry shop and café will be situated at street level.

Relevant Designs

Overseeing the interior design of Andaz Tokyo are Tony Chi, of the New York-based Tonychi and Associates, and Shinichiro Ogata, of Simplicity Co., Ltd. in Tokyo's Meguro Ward. Chi, a graduate of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology who was born in Taiwan and raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side, has a portfolio of sophisticated global hospitality design projects including Andaz 5th Avenue in New York and Park Hyatt Shanghai. Ogata, a Nagasaki native, is known for his elegant architectural, interior, and product designs—such as the Higashiya and Higashi-yama teahouses and sweet shops in Tokyo and the ‘SSS' line of upscale furniture and tableware in porcelain, ceramic, iron, lacquer, pewter, glass, bronze, and wood—all of which celebrate traditional Japanese industrial arts. Together the two designers will draw on Japan's rich body of aesthetic arts to create spaces that, in keeping with the Andaz mission, stimulate the creative senses of guests in refreshing ways.

Community Focus

The brand-wide Andaz Salon programme of interactive, on-property, and virtual social events conceived to support and nurture each hotel's community of emerging talent has won a following among self-styled "professional bohemians" who favour unique settings geared to the local scene, yet expect the customary comforts and service standard equated with the Hyatt name. Andaz Tokyo will collabourate with local artists, musicians, designers, and other cultural influencers to deliver events and programmes on themes unique to its location in central Tokyo. Andaz Tokyo's distinctive spaces will be used flexibly to stage creative Andaz Salon events from talks to exhibitions and live performances. These events can also be experienced via the brand's Andaz Salon website, where unique content from the brand's Cultural Insiders, event photos, and inspirations will be shared.

These creative relationships are intended to spark new connections, provoke ideas, and empower people to shape their surroundings. In addition, Andaz Tokyo will join its sister properties in their support of women in war-torn countries through a collabouration with Women for Women International, an organisation dedicated to providing female survivors of war, civil strife, and other conflicts with tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.

Unprecedented Civil Engineering

In an engineering first for the city, an underground tunnel will place a portion of the Loop Road No. 2 arterial road beneath the 17,000-square-metre Toranomon site, thereby freeing up the tower's immediate environs for people-friendly plazas, community pathways, and open vistas. The Shinbashi-Toranomon section of Loop Road No. 2 is scheduled to open to traffic in spring 2014; it is slated to connect with the Wangan-sen Bayshore Route and other traffic networks serving Haneda Airport and the seaport area in 2017. The tower's aboveground construction is moving apace simultaneously with the road excavation of 410,000 cubic metres of earth and the pouring of 167,500 cubic metres of concrete, an unprecedented feat of logistical planning and structural engineering. The total floor space of the complex, which includes five underground floors, will be 244,305 square metres when it is completed in September 2014.

Loop Road No. 2 (Kanjo Dainigosen)

While the 9.2-kilometre section of Loop Road No. 2 (Kanjo Dainigosen) stretching from Shinbashi to Kanda Sakumacho was pegged for development in 1946, the portion between Shinbashi and Toranomon has until now remained unrealised. With the implementation of new municipal provisions in 1989 allowing the construction of highways and buildings within the same vertical space, plans for the arterial road, its tunnel, and an above-ground redevelopment project were able to proceed in concert. Construction work is now progressing, with the new Shinbashi-Toranomon section of Loop Road No. 2 slated to open in spring 2014.