Tokyu Land Capital Management buys 30-unit short-stay block near Osaka's Namba

Tokyu Land Capital Management has acquired 30 Pieces, a 30-unit short-stay apartment building near Osaka's Namba station, from Taiwan-based Aplus Property Investment Holdings. The deal closed in late August, with financial terms undisclosed, as local governments move to restrict the minpaku sector.

Tokyu Land Capital Management, the investment arm of Japanese developer Tokyu Land Corporation, has bought a 30-unit short-stay apartment building near Osaka's Namba station. The 11-storey property, known as 30 Pieces, was sold by Taiwan-based Aplus Property Investment Holdings, which developed and opened it shortly before Expo 2025 began in April last year. The transaction closed in late August, with financial terms undisclosed, and Tokyu Land declined to comment on the purchase.

The building is located in Osaka's Naniwa ward, an eight-minute walk southwest of the Namba transport hub serving city subway lines, regional rail and an airport express line. It is operated by Kyoto-based hospitality firm Piece and offers studios, lofts and family suites ranging from 32 to 58 sq m (344 to 624 sq ft). Its larger rooms target families and groups, a segment Aplus sees as underserved by conventional hotels.

Aplus said the property's revenue per available room (revPAR) averaged more than JPY 30,000 (US$191) a night from November 2025 to July 2026, the nine months after the Expo closed. The property achieved that despite a fall-off in Expo demand and a 2.7 per cent year-on-year drop in visitor arrivals to 27.6 million in the first eight months of 2026, according to Japan National Tourism Organization figures.

Aplus developed 30 Pieces as a residential building certified under Osaka's special zone minpaku scheme rather than with a hotel licence, allowing year-round short-stay guests while retaining the option to switch to monthly residential leases. Special zone minpaku operate under Japan's national strategic special zones law; properties can operate 365 days a year subject to a two-night minimum stay, while ordinary minpaku are capped at 180 nights.

Osaka city accounted for 7,930 approved special zone facilities, roughly 90 per cent of the national total, as of January, according to a Mainichi Shimbun tally. Following community concerns, the city stopped accepting new applications for special zone minpaku on 29 May, while previously certified properties can continue to operate. Aplus managing partner Harvey Fang said: "While the regulatory changes have created greater uncertainty for the broader minpaku sector, they may also increase the relative scarcity of existing authorised assets with established operations, institutional-quality management and strong underlying locations."

Tokyo-listed Japan Metropolitan Fund Investment made a similar argument in June when it bought the 58-room Apartment Hotel 11 Shinsaibashi Amemura 2 in Osaka's Chuo ward for JPY 2.4 billion, describing the purchase as a value-add investment targeting an internal rate of return of about 11 per cent at exit. Last month, Rava Partners-backed Dash Living acquired the 298-unit Frontier Shinjuku Tower from M&G Real Estate for over JPY 38 billion, and earlier this month Dash and BlackRock added a 26-unit building in Tokyo's Kinshicho area.