New Otani, Weller Court Sold to an Investment Firm
By Alex Isao Herbach
Rafu Staff Writer
Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007

3D Investments purchased several properties in San Francisco’s Japantown last year.

MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo
Little Tokyo’s Weller Court and the New Otani Hotel and Garden have been sold to a Beverly Hills investment firm.

Two Little Tokyo landmarks, the New Otani Hotel and Garden and Weller Court, were quietly sold following the completion of a deal that has some community figures worried.

3D Investments, a Beverly Hills-based firm, bought the properties from the East West Development Corporation for an unspecified amount of money, according to sources close to the purchase. The deal was finalized after the acquisition cleared escrow Friday, Aug. 17.

The deal was never made public until Aug. 20 and community representatives could only rely on unofficial reports regarding the deal.

“I had seen emails that [the hotel] was rumored to be sold,” said Japanese American Cultural & Community Center Executive Director Chris Aihara, also a member of the Little Tokyo City Council. “Nothing directly; it was all thirdhand.”

In March of last year, 3D Investments also bought two iconic hotels, as well as several land parcels, in San Francisco’s Japantown amid local concern that the acquisitions could alter that community’s historical and cultural identity. The Little Tokyo sale, in conjunction with the re­cent sale of the Japanese Village Plaza to a Malibu-based firm, has given rise to similar concerns here.

“The Little Tokyo Community Council has been trying for the last several years to come up with guidelines to preserve the nature of Little Tokyo,” said Tom Kamei, former president of the LTCC and a board member of the JACCC. “With the property being sold and the New Otani Hotel being one of the major landmarks of Little Tokyo, it’s going to affect—we’re pretty sure—our cultural programs and community meetings.”

On Monday, Kamei met Ta­kashi Ito, CEO of the Kajima Corporation, which along with 21 other Japanese part­ners owns the EWDC, for a lunch meeting where he was informed of the deal’s completion. Until then, no community representative had received any official information regarding the transaction. During the meeting, details remained unspecific.

“This is a very strange situation,” said Kamei. “Mr. Ito called me and had a meeting with me and told me I would be the only person in the com­munity who would get an interview with him as a representative of Little Tokyo. I asked him questions and [Ito] didn’t have too many answers.”

Ito did say that he would not be speak­ing to any other community representative and that the EWDC will not be writing a press release. According to Kamei, Ito maintained that his company sold to 3D Investments because of their record as longterm investors of properties and that he felt they are be willing to work with the Japanese community to preserve their heritage. Several calls to Ito’s office were not returned.

3D Investments has remained tightlipped as well. To date, no statement has been released from the company nor have any representatives been available for comment.

“They haven’t shown any intent to talk to us so we haven’t had any communication with them,” said Kamei.