Tokyo-based Toshin Development Co., Ltd., a consolidated subsidiary of Takashimaya Company Ltd., has decided in late June to join the Starlake urban development project that aimed at developing a secondary urban hub in Hanoi, Vietnam.
By chipping in the integrated development project, Toshin Development will promote Takashimaya Group’s ground-up community development efforts and help the group advance its ASEAN strategy.
For the first phase of the project, Toshin Development will work with Edufit International Education Corporation JSC to develop a high-quality school (Gateway International School West Lake), which will make the area more attractive to local communities and investors.
According to Toshin’s development plan, there are two lots of developments (Lot A and B). Toshin will acquire the necessary land use certificates for these lots, construct and hold properties, and then lease these properties for use as schools, shopping facilities, offices, and other facilities.
For Lot A (2.1 hectares), Toshin has formed a joint venture called Gateway, in which it holds 75 per cent stake, with Edufit to open a bilingual school consisting of preschool, primary, secondary and higher levels in autumn 2020. The school, accordingly, will be operated by Nguon Sang while the school property will be held and developed by property developer Gateway. Toshin will invest in Gateway as part of its real estate business.
To help ensure the developer’s stable performance, it will also invest in Nguon Sang as part of its school operation business, which targets a growing sector in Vietnam. Edufit, for its part, will take a minority stake (25 per cent) in the real estate business to solidify the alliance between the two companies.
For Lot B (1.7 hectares), Toshin has entered a deposit agreement over land use right certificates with local developer THT Development Company Ltd. THT Development is a subsidiary of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd., a major South Korean construction company that acts as the master developer in the Starlake project. Once the local authorities have approved the agreement, work will begin on a multiuse project that will primarily comprise retail facilities. This project should begin in 2022.
According to Shinsuke Kuramoto, president of Toshin Development, the cooperation with Edufit will help set up a modern and high-class school on the back of a well-developed commercial and cultural centre in the western part of the West Lake in Hanoi.
Toshin Development established its Vietnam office in 2008 and in 2016 opened the Takashimaya department store within the Saigon Centre premise.
