MISATO CITY, JAPAN-The Internet is meeting bricks-and-mortar real estate here via a 400,000-sf warehouse lease between ProLogis and Yamato Logistics. The tenant, a leading provider of third-party logistics services, will use the facility at ProLogis Parc Misato II for a new e-commerce distribution center, primarily on behalf of Japanese retailer Marui.

"We look forward to occupying the space, and to broadening our relationship with ProLogis as we continue to grow our global business operations," says Yamato managing executive director Yoshihiko Hoshino, who reports that the latest deal gives his firm 940,000 sf of occupancy at six ProLogis properties throughout Japan. The newest agreement will allow Yamato to service nearby Tokyo and the northern Japan market, he explains. The building Yamato will operate from is a four-story, 638,000-sf structure slated for completion in September.

Denver-based ProLogis is investing $100 million into the Misato City complex, which is part of a major overhaul of a former railroad switchyard. The larger venture is being undertaken by a Japanese consortium that is proposing 5.3 million sf of industrial, office, residential and retail space known as "Shin-Misato LaLa City," Besides ProLogis Parc Misato II, the project will include a shopping mall, big box retailers including Costco and IKEA, and more than one million sf of office and residential space.

ProLogis co-president for Japan Mike Yamada calls the venture "a strategically important location for distribution" because the area is one the few remaining near Tokyo that can accommodate a large-scale facility. "We are fortunate to have secured land there for our new park," he relays, closing another gap in the firm's Japanese coverage. The development will give ProLogis 11 distribution centers in the Saitama prefecture where Misato City is located, comprising 6.2 million sf of space. Across Japan, ProLogis now has 26.4 million sf in such markets as Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo.