Putting underutilized assets to use, our businesses benefit all stakeholders involved

From parking lot management at home to a nationwide parking lot subleasing business

Nippon Parking Development began in 1991. It all started after President and CEO Tatsumi graduated university, and started managing the parking lot of his own home. The parking lot, with its cleanliness maintained, found itself always full. Before he knew it, there was a concentration of inquiries from neighboring parking lot owners. “This could become a business”, he thought. Following his intuition, Tatsumi established Nippon Parking Development from one of his rooms at home. In 1994, the company branched out to Tokyo. He started an intermediary business of building parking lots in the metropolitan area, and developed the industry’s first parking lot sublease business. Throughout the process of advancing the parking lot sublease business, he scooped out the needs of building owners, and gave birth to various collateral services.
As a result, in February 2003, he succeeded in public offering the company’s stock to the new market JASDAQ, and in the following February 2004, listing in the 2nd Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, followed by listing in the 1st Market of the Stock Exchange (after JASDAQ’s listing, became the fastest company to change markets to Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 1st Market). Also, in recent years, the company has started new service menus for tenant corporations entering buildings. At Nippon Theme Park Development, launched in 2016, the company has successfully utilized experience and skills gained from business in parking lots and ski resorts, in working on theme park business, villa business, as well as lodging business, all inherited by previous owners. Especially regarding the villa and lodging businesses, we have been working on the construction of a new business model that seeks to apply and develop the parking lot business. As we move forward, we want to utilize idle assets and expand business that aims to solve social issues by clearing the gaps in society, not just in parking lots or ski resorts.

Regarding Our Work in Parking Lots Business

From subleasing to an asset utilization company.
Building strength to take on new challenges.

Okamoto: In central Japan, it is mandatory for buildings larger than a certain size to set up parking lots. Therefore, there are a lot of parking lots within buildings in the city center. Some parking lots are not used at all because they have to be installed even if they are not needed. On the other hand, there are many people in the city who use inconvenient parking lots far from their destination. Although there are actually many open parking lots, there are people who have trouble finding a parking lot when they need one. The parking lot sublease business began as a business to eliminate this mismatch. It was the industry's first business model in 2000, but it was also a time when securitization of real estate and REIT began to become a topic of conversation, and it grew quickly. Currently, we operate 1,200 parking lots nationwide in Japan alone. Among them, there are 230 parking lots with manned operation. Most of the 230 properties are operated by renting from the owner, but there are some properties which we have purchased from the owner and currently own.
In one property, we bought just the building while the owned kept rights to the land. There was a different need here, where the owner could save on inheritance tax. Rather than owning both the land and the building, the value of real estate will decrease if a building owned by another person is built on land you own. As it was more important to do what is best for the owner’s children rather than trying to increase rent income in the near-term, I accepted the proposal and we bought just the building. Although the method is different in each case, the fact that our proposal is adopted means that it leads to the owner's happiness. For us, when a rented parking lot becomes a self-owned one, the risk of the contract expiring is gone, allowing for stable operations. Also, since rent payment are no longer necessary, profits will be several times higher. Of course, we will continue to pursue new contracts of subleases as before, but the company is also getting stronger, and in the sense of starting our engines to grow further, we would like to increase the ratio of self-owned shares. If a company gets stronger, it will be able to boldly take the challenge of new businesses, and I think that it will also lead to the utilization of idle assets in Japan.

Okamoto: In 2021, I became the General Manager of the Sales Division, which oversees the parking lot business nationwide. Up until then, I served as the General Manager of the Kinki Headquarters (now integrated into Western Japan Headquarters), which oversees Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, where I took on the challenges of expanding business in Osaka, the very birth place of our company. Osaka is also the area where we first achieved a property in parking lot sublease business. Because of this, we had mostly covered the target properties within the area. What became the key to our business, in a city we were already familiar with, was the planning and development of new collateral services for parking lot management. We had started a car washing service in parking lots a few years back, but this was planned by a young sales staff. The bicycle renting service that utilized minimal space was also started by a 4th-year employee. Just like this, as long as young employees pick up needs on-the-ground, and opportunities for new services increase, we should be able to continue increasing our sales. In order to do so, I believe that my duty is to create a working space that allows these young people to find purpose in what he or she does. The Nippon Parking Development Group has a vision of "expanding to 100 cities around the world, producing 100 presidents, and creating a company that will last for 100 years." I think that creating an environment where young employees can take on challenges is the first step. Through the parking lot business, I would like them to improve their sense of business and skills as business persons, and eventually they will be able to create new businesses themself. Of course, I would like to work hard as one of them.

Regarding Our Work in Real Estate Business

Taking full advantage of the charm of Japan's leading tourist destination "Nasu" and taking on the challenge of developing both "community" and "our business"

Yazawa: Utilizing the business model of "effectively utilizing non-operating assets" of the Nippon Parking Development Group, we are working on the development of Nasu Kogen, Japan's leading tourism resource which is rich in such as nature, villas, and leisure facilities. "Nasu Highland" managed and operated by our company is the largest villa in Nasu Kogen, which consists of 8 million square meters (about 170 Tokyo Domes) and 5,000 divisions. We are working hard on the "hybrid type" of the accommodation business (vacation rental that converts the villa into an accommodation facility) x the villa sales business as one of the methods aiming to improve the asset value of the villa. We believe that the asset value will inevitably increase if the demand for "want to use" and "want to get" the villa increases, and from around 2018, we aggressively promote various accommodation facilities that make us think "want to stay" and "want to purchase".
As of January 2022, capacity (the number of rooms) has more than tripled and profits have grown even faster. While the tourism industry was forced to struggle due to the coronavirus pandemic, we succeeded in capturing the worcation demand that had been set up before coronavirus. The hybrid business (accommodation x sales) fits the times, partly because the demand for villa sales increased due to the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, in November 2021, a council called "Nascon Valley" was established to create the relevant population of Nasu Kogen. Utilizing the vast site of “Nasu Highland”, we have started an attempt to promote the social implementation of innovation from Nasu, such as drone delivery, unmanned driving of automobiles, and demonstration experiments of remote medical care, etc. Expecting that various chemical reactions will occur due to the gathering of large companies and venture companies from the city center to Nasu, we would like to make it a "Business creation lab" where the world's most advanced business is developed like Silicon Valley. At the moment, we are focusing on the development of the Nasu area, but in the future we will work on "regional co-creation" through "development" and "regeneration" of resorts (villas) in other areas, aiming to raise the level of all Japan.

Yazawa: In 2020, like “Nasu Highland Park” operated by our group, the long-established ranch-equipped theme park "Nasu Rindo Lake LAKEVIEW” (currently “Nasu Kogen Rindo Lake Family Ranch”), which boasted more than 1 million visitors annually, has joined the group.
We took over the company which had been in deficit for several years on May 1, 2020, when the first state of emergency was declared by coronavirus. It was a start from the adversity that we were forced to close the park despite the GW when we can expect the most customers to visit in a year, but that is why we were able to think about everything on a zero basis and reform. The first measure we took was to open the garden to the local people for free. Although it was a drastic attempt, I hope that people in the area who cannot go out due to coronavirus pandemic are able to release stress as much as possible in a "safe and secure park" where infection control measures can be taken and social distance can be sufficiently maintained. And the name that had changed to "Nasu Rindoko LAKEVIEW" was changed again to "Nasu Kogen Rindoko Family Bokujyo", which had been familiar to the local people since the opening of the park. We also focused on the renewal of attractions, and replaced 25 of the 36 facilities, which is about two-thirds of the current facilities. We also worked on the reuse of attractions, such as relocating a three-dimensional maze from Toshimaen, which closed in 2020, and a Ferris wheel from Misaki Park, which closed in the same year. As a result of aggressively replacing attractions, more than 30% of people will be able to purchase the "Enjoy Pass" (all-you-can-ride pass for attractions), which was only purchased by 1-2% of all visitors. The unit price per customer has improved significantly. In addition, while reducing advertising declaration costs by about 50%, we actively issued press releases for various projects. In particular, if you send more than 60 times in the first year, the exposure of mass media such as TV and newspapers will increase, and as a result of increasing the unit price per customer and generating profits by reducing costs, even during the coronavirus pandemic, we were able to turn into a surplus in one year. We will continue to take on various challenges with the aim of becoming a theme park where loved by the local people as a "safe and secure park.” The "theme park," which is also a symbol of the region, contributes to the "development of the regional economy" by creating employment in the region, increasing the number of people involved, and maintaining and expanding related industries.
Furthermore, I think that it is an important existence that creates "heart support" such as "bonds" and "memories" with important people such as family and friends. Looking around Japan, there are theme parks (amusement parks, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, etc.) that are popular and have expanded their business, while there are theme parks that decline or close due to various reasons. As a unique theme park revitalization company, we will continue to lead the bright future of Japan from the local community through the maintenance, development and prosperity of theme parks.


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*Information on this webpage is as of the time of the interview.

PROFILE

Nippon Parking Development
Director and General Manager
Keiji Okamoto

Joined Nippon Parking Development in 2003, during its initial stages of new graduate recruitment. A true leader that has constantly been at the forefront of young employees in advancing new work. After serving as Kinki General Manager in 2016 and Eastern Japan Headquarters General Manager in May 2018, became Director and General Manager of Eastern Japan Headquarters in October 2018. As an executive, he leads the further growth of the parking lot business.

Nippon Theme Park Development
Senior Managing Director
Goshi Yazawa

Joined Nippon Parking Development in 1999. Left NPD in 2007, and returned to NPD group as senior managing director of Nippon Theme Park Development as well as Towa Nasu Resort in 2016, after gaining experience in a company operating language schools, as well as a company operating businesses in medicine, nursing care, education, and child care. Has moved to the location of business (Nasu), and is in charge of villa business and lodging business respectively, with the support of the local people's "love".

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