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A Serendipitous Ski Holiday: From Sprained Knee To Setsu Niseko

By 11th January 2022May 30th, 2023Condominiums, Development, Hotels, Interviews, News, Niseko Real Estate

Reputed across Asia for its embodiment of luxury living, Singaporean developer SC Global has been creating beautifully crafted apartments renowned for their quality and attention to detail for 25 years.

 

Founder, Chairman and CEO Simon Cheong literally stumbled across an opportunity to bring SC Global’s expertise to the foothills of the Niseko ski slopes.

The result is Setsu Niseko – among the most spectacular luxury hotel residences built in Niseko to date and set to open to guests in August this year.

We asked Simon to tell us the story behind Setsu Niseko, and discovered a twist of fate led to its existence.

You’ve skied around the world for most of your life. How does Niseko compare with the best resorts in the world?

Our first trip to Niseko as a family was around 2008 and since then, it has become an annual family ritual. The holiday was absolutely amazing, the family loved it and I was truly mesmerised by the snow. The ski resort is very kid-friendly – not every family wants to ski black runs like in Vancouver or Zermatt. In Niseko, you have a great variety of different types of courses that you can visit within a 20-minute car ride.

In 2008, Niseko was a much quieter mountain town. I noticed that much of the accommodation was smaller ski lodges, mainly family-run businesses, and not many international brands or larger resorts.

It struck me as an opportunity, especially as at that time many of the restaurants were small, and with my big family it could be difficult to get large tables to eat together during the peak season.

Food has always played an important part in the Japanese ski holiday experience. The culinary offerings in Japan have really reached another level, even down to the coffee and chocolate – everything is so refined. The Japanese have a very keen eye for detail. The other key part of the ski experience in Japan is the onsen (hot spring), which really is second to none. Although the concept is not new, as hot springs have been around for thousands of years, the Japanese have really perfected the onsen experience.

The fact that the resort is English speaking is crucial. I’ve been to Hakuba, but language can be a barrier. Niseko is pretty much bilingual, which is a major plus for visitors, especially from ASEAN. Of course, last but not least, the finest powder snow in the world is in Niseko.

So with all these things in mind, I realised that all the fundamental ingredients of a world-class resort were there in Niseko. And as a high-end real estate developer and businessman, I recognised that there was a tremendous opportunity to develop a large international luxury resort. I believe that the world is looking for quality and there is no limit to the market for quality.

I understand you bought some property after spraining your knee while skiing. What happened and how did it lead to the development of Setsu? 

It was about our third or fourth season and I was skiing on Mt Annupuri when I sprained my knee and flipped over on the snow. I knew it wasn’t broken because I could walk, so I just rested and took painkillers, but it meant I couldn’t ski for the rest of the season. So for the subsequent trips, the kids would go off around 7am and come back around 4pm before sunset. I would spend time with my wife walking around town, drinking coffee, and then started visiting the real estate agencies along the main street. Quite naturally, after a while I started to think about buying real estate and the potential of developing a resort. This is pretty much how this adventure started.

After that, you bought several potential development sites. Why did you choose the Setsu site for your first project?

Frankly, it was quite opportunistic. The first site I bought was the Setsu Niseko plot, which was probably the most expensive site of all those proposed by the real estate brokers. But it had the most incredible location with a perfectly clear view of Mt Yotei at the front and a view of the Annupuri (skiing) mountain at the back, which is magnificent when the night skiing lights come on in the afternoon and evening.

It had the most incredible location with a perfectly clear view of Mt Yotei at the front and a view of the Annupuri (skiing) mountain at the back, which is magnificent when the night skiing lights come on in the afternoon and evening.

Setsu Niseko Exterior | Upper Hirafu

The agents kept pulling me back to other sites, but I kept gravitating back to this main site. I had a very good feeling about it. Although I ended up buying four plots around Niseko, I decided to focus on developing this one key site. 

When I first saw Mt Yotei I was taken aback by how stunning the view is, but it took me a few years to fully appreciate it. When you go close to Mt Fuji you never really have a perfectly clear view of the whole mountain – it has a very broad base with a lot of smaller mountains around the site. Whereas Mt Yotei is a little smaller, with a valley around the base which is flat and forested. You can see Mt Yotei from anywhere in Niseko and get a picture-perfect view. 

What was the vision for what you wanted to create with Setsu as a Niseko holiday retreat?

We’ve been studying the rich history of ski culture and the style of services in resorts like Zermatt, Aspen, Whistler and Courchevel. We want to bring the romance of the European off-piste lifestyle into Niseko. If you remember how these resorts were depicted in movies in the old days, the whole ski experience was very different. The food, the music, the cognac, everyone is having a good time. These are the type of experiences that I am trying my best to recreate at Setsu Niseko.

If you look at where we are with the development of Setsu Niseko today, all the important fundamentals of a good ski resort are in place. Setsu Niseko’s services and facilities will capture everything you need – public and private onsen, wellness centre, spa, yoga studio, children’s room, seasonal events and activities, gymnasium, ski shop, ski concierge, guest services. And when it comes to restaurants, Setsu Niseko will have one of the widest range of professionally managed restaurants of international standard for guests to enjoy. 

Aside from our in-house facilities and services, helping guests discover unforgettable experiences is something that we are very focused on.

Aside from our in-house facilities and services, helping guests discover unforgettable experiences is something that we are very focused on. There is so much to do in the local area, whether it be cultural journeys, wellness or more adventurous activities. Our team will be there to help guests discover the hidden experiences for a truly memorable holiday. I remember one year, I took my 90-year-old parents along with us – we had three generations together. Yet, each of us could find things to do to have a memorable holiday. That is very powerful. The older folks were able to walk in the snow, stroll around the shops in Kutchan, visit Otaru, enjoy the onsen, visit the tofu shop. There were so many things they could do. And then in the evening, we would all join together for dinner. It was such a wonderful experience. Unforgettable. 

You’re obviously very experienced in developing large scale projects in high-profile locations. How did this experience ensure Setsu’s architecture integrated within the Hirafu landscape?

We are probably the largest project in the Hirafu area. Not huge by international standards, but for a small town like Niseko, it’s substantial. The architecture must be timeless, practical, and stand up to the harsh environment. But most importantly it must also have the presence of the place. At SC Global we are very particular about having the right architecture, the right design, even the right artwork that reflects the place. We don’t want a New York or Singapore style design in a ski resort. So if you take a look at the Setsu Niseko interior, you will find the design is very Japanese.

When you stay at Setsu Niseko, we want you to experience Japan, there is a lot of wood and a number of Japanese elements in the interior design, the shoji screens – the washi paper on the walls and authentic tatami rooms. We have spared no effort to make sure that we get it right.

As for the other sites, do you have a grand vision for how all the developments here might tie together?

Although we have multiple sites, it’s important that our development in Niseko is measured. We don’t want to rush into things. It’s important to let our first project get up and running, look where the demand is and then take the next step from there. We also don’t like to plan projects too far ahead of time – we will let demand drive our plans for the next chapter. Maybe the demand will be for villas in more remote areas, closer to the farms, who knows. We will watch and see and when the time is right we will have the site to develop.

Can you give us a peek into your crystal ball – how do you see Niseko maturing over the next 10-20 years?

That’s an easy question to answer because I thought about this a lot when I first decided to embark on the development of the site. I went to school in Seattle Washington, which is very close to Vancouver. That was in the late 70s. I have always felt, and told friends at the time, that Niseko is like Whistler was 50 years ago. Whistler was a sleepy town with one hotel and look at it today. Demand creates supply and supply creates demand. It’s a process where people demand the convenience of facilities, luxury hotels, the reliable brand names that they recognise. Those are the places they will go to the first time. After that, as people get to know the town well, they will move on to more luxurious hotels, but without the need for international branding – something more local and unique. Niseko is still developing and with the Shinkansen (bullet train) coming in 2030, it will really open up the domestic market and bring the charms of Niseko back to the Japanese.

Find out more at setsuniseko.com.

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