A GRAND interior water feature and a pantheon-influenced reception will greet guests to the six-star, Tadao Ando-designed Capella Niseko at Annupuri.
Set on 32 wooded acres less than 1km from the base of the mountain, Capella Niseko will be a four-season luxury boutique resort that promises to set a new standard of service not only in Niseko, but all of Japan.
Designs for the resort reveal 67 suites, 94 apartments, 36 houses and 19 villas, and construction is expected to start in May 2010, for completion in 2012.
Mae Loh, spokesperson for the developer said deposits had already been received on more than 40 Capella Niseko residences, attributing much of the momentum to the involvement of Japan’s most famous architect.
Ando is an award-winning Japanese designer – billed as ‘one of the world’s greatest living architects’ – famous for designs that follow the landscape and harness natural light. He’s designed some of Japan’s iconic buildings, and homes for the likes of U2 frontman, Bono.
“We want visitors to Capella Niseko to enjoy a true Japanese experience – not in a pseudo European, North American or Australian setting, and not in a Disneyland-ish Japanese design,” Loh said.
The developers have assembled a strong international design team to complete the Capella Niseko project, a hotel brand started by Horst Schulze, famous for building the Ritz-Carlton brand and establishing a benchmark for high-quality hotel industry service.
Loh said Capella chose Niseko for its second Asian resort because it was an ‘exciting and exotic location’.
“After opening Capella’s first hotel in Singapore to much fanfare, Niseko is bound to be the Asian equivalent of Aspen, St. Moritz or Whistler,” she said.
Loh said the Capella Niseko resort – hailed as ‘the first all-season resort in Asia’ – had the potential to shoot Niseko into a higher league. “Look at Whistler for the all-season potential of Niseko,” she said. “We have no doubt other operators will want to join in soon.”
With apartments starting at ¥70 million, Capella Niseko pre-sales have been strong, already attracting prestigious buyers such as Forbes List members from Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Niseko Property have been assisting Capella with their sales program and are the exclusive agents for Capella in Japan. The Capella Niseko showroom is in the Niseko Property Hirafu office, opposite the Park Hotel.