Nissan Motor Co. said Monday it has chosen an architect and two major contractors to design and construct its new head office in Yokohama.

Architect Yoshio Taniguchi and Takenaka Corp. will design the building and Shimizu Corp. will undertake the construction, the automaker said.

Nissan announced last year it was moving most of its head office functions and personnel from Tokyo to Yokohama by 2010.

At least 2,000 of Nissan's 3,000 employees based at the Tokyo head office will move to the 78,500-sq.-meter Yokohama office.

Nissan, founded in Yokohama in 1933, operates a number of auto plants in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Locating its headquarters in Yokohama will allow Nissan to collaborate more closely with its existing facilities as well as key suppliers and business partners, the firm said.

The Yokohama Municipal Government offered subsidies and tax breaks to sweeten the deal.

In June 2004, Nissan announced a plan to build a 33-story, 150-meter-high head office in the Minato-Mirai 21 waterfront zone.