Activities of Private Developers and Office Location in the Central Region of Hiroshima City

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between the development of office space, the location of office renting floor space and the influences of the activities of private developers on business office districts in Hiroshima City. The following summarizes the main results of this study:(1) The locational pattern of office buildings is mainly conditioned by the street car lines and main streets. Private developers whose headquarters are outside Hiroshima City, especially in Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas, own buildings in the higher land value district or the more accessible district Hiroshima Station than those whose headquarters are in Hiroshima.(2) Private developers make decisions about their activities according to national and local monetary policy and city planning. Many larger and higher-storeyed office buildings have been constructed by larger capital developers. Recenly, however, private developers in Hiroshima have built the largest office building.(3) The use of floor spaces in office buildings has a defined pattern which is set by private developers and connected with the land use pattern in the city, especially in the central area in Hiroshima.(4) The rental fees for office space in office buildings is an important factor in the balance of supply and demand for office spaces. Fees depend mainly on the equipment of the building and/or land value; the rental fees reflect the activities of the private developers.(5) The attributes of offices in office buildings are an important factor in the business district, because it corresponds to the character of offices in the office buildings, and affects the office location pattern in the city. For example, many branch offices in office buildings are owned developers outside Hiroshima, that by depend on rental fees.(6) Although movements of offices by the construction of new office buildings is not dramatic in this study, the supply and demand of office spaces is balanced. But the spread of the business district in the city depends on the activities of private developers.