Canyon in Downtown of Osaka

Namba Parks is an urban lifestyle center fitted onto a 3.37-hectare (8.33-acre) underutilized parcel in the heart of Osaka’s central business district (CBD). The site is a part of a narrow strip of land owned by Nankai Electric Railway, which has been progressively developing it over the course of half a century. Surrounded by raised railroad tracks to the east and an urban boulevard and elevated viaduct to the west, Namba Parks offers green space atop an eight-level assemblage of 108 shops and restaurants arranged to form an indoor-outdoor urban retail and entertainment complex visually anchored by a 30-floor office tower.

Namba Parks is in downtown Osaka, Japan’s second-largest metropolitan area (Tokyo and Yokohama can be considered one continuous metropolitan area). As Japan’s “Second City” – the comparison to U.S. cities and their reputations is apt, with Kyoto being Japan’s Boston, and Tokyo being both New York and Los Angeles – Osaka, like Chicago, prides itself on its commercialism and industry, its aggressiveness and rowdiness. Osakans, in fact, traditionally greet each other with the phrase mōkarimakka, or “are you making money?”

Namba Parks extends the southern end of Minami, Osaka’s historic central business district (CBD). Minami’s main street is the 4.4-kilometer (2.7-mile) Midosuji (meaning “Great Hall Avenue,” and named after a large Buddhist temple that once marked the street), a tree-lined boulevard that is compared with Fifth Avenue or Champs-Elysées because of its grand proportions and the number of deluxe stores and high-fashion boutiques along its length. At its southern end, Midosuji extends to the Namba rail and subway station. Atop the subway station, starting at street level is a seven-story branch of the famed Takashimaya department store. Nearby is the 600-meterlong (1,968-foot-long) Shinsaibashi arcade mall with 180 shops targeted to a young population. Across Midosuji from Shinsaibashi are more arcaded and underground malls, all connected to Namba station and four other railway and subway terminals.

Namba Parks was jointly developed by Nankai Electric Railway and Takashimaya, a prominent department store chain based in Kyoto, with 24 stores in seven countries, including Japan, China, Singapore, and the United States. Nankai’s development subsidiary was formed in 1991 to maximize the value of the company’s extensive landholdings centered in Osaka. Founded in 1885, Nankai was named after the Nankaido, the ancient seacoast road extending from Nara to the southern end of Japan. The company owns and operates 169 kilometers (105 miles) of rail tracks in the Osaka region, and is Japan’s 16th-largest railway company, ranked by its revenue from operations.

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Materials provided by the Jerde Partnership