Wakayama City is expected to soon sell a long-idle site in an industrial park to Google-related company, Asa GK, with a datacenter planned for the 37-hectare site.
Cosmo Park Kada was created between 1986 and 1991 after the hilltop from the 252 hectare site was shaved off and used as landfill in the creation of Kansai International Airport. The completion of the industrial park unfortunately coincided with the end of the asset bubble in the early 1990s, and it sat empty until 2005 when tomato-based manufacturer Kagome opened a factory on one of the allotments. In 2012, a large-scale solar farm took up another vacant site.
The sale to the Google group company represents approximately 40% of the vacant land in the park. The price of 5.94 billion Yen (approx. US$40 million) works out to around 16,000 Yen per square meter.
Rising demand for real estate, particularly data centers and semiconductor factories, is growing in Japan as a result of the expanding tech market. Industrial parks, some that have been vacant for decades, present the perfect location due to having flat, buildable land, and much needed infrastructure such as easily accessible roads and high-voltage power.
Sources:
The Asahi Shimbun, December 18, 2023.
NHK, December 19, 2023.
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