Restructuring Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. is selling the site of the now-closed Hotel New Japan, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Chiyoda Mutual will take bids on the 8,000-sq.-meter plot in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward and decide on a buyer buy the end of March.
The property is currently owned by one of the insurer's subsidiaries.
The company, which went bankrupt last year and is currently trying to restructure under the corporate rehabilitation law, is redeveloping the site and plans to erect a so-called intelligent building. The buyer is expected to take over the redevelopment work.
The Hotel New Japan was gutted in a 1982 fire that killed 33 people. At the height of the bubble economy, the land was valued at 300 billion yen.
A financial company that had kept the site as collateral for loans to a group related to Hideki Yokoi, the late owner of the Hotel New Japan, proposed in 1993 that the site be auctioned, but the proposal was withdrawn shortly before bids were invited.
At the request of Chiyoda Mutual Life, an auction was held again in 1994, but the minimum sale price of 99 billion yen scared off investors.
Although the price was reduced to 60 billion yen, a 1995 auction also failed to attract buyers, causing Chiyoda Mutual Life to use a subsidiary to buy the site itself.