According to a Nikkei feature report, the public call for a developer to redevelop the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site — the first plot offered up for reuse at the Osaka-Kansai Expo grounds on Yumeshima — ended with zero bids. Osaka Prefecture and the city have also opened bidding since July for a developer to build out roughly 420,000 square meters (about 9 Tokyo Domes) that will form the core of “Yumeshima Phase 2,” with the planned sale price reportedly set at ¥92.1 billion, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. On 5ch, opinions crossed paths: some blamed the high asking price for the lack of bids, others noted that hotel operators for the IR (such as MGM Osaka) have already been decided, and still others brought up the rivalry with Suzuka Circuit over hosting rights for Japan’s F1 race.
Zero Bids for Expo Site Redevelopment: “This Is No Laughing Matter” — International Tourism Hub Still Shrouded in Fog
In-Depth Report: The Legacy of the Osaka Expo (Part 2)
September 24, 2026, 2:00 AM
Source: nikkei.com / Read the original article here
The article actually says:
>In July, Osaka Prefecture and the city opened bidding for developers of the roughly 420,000 sq m (9 Tokyo Domes) core area of "Yumeshima Phase 2."
>The earlier bidding round for redeveloping the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site got zero bids.
That's literally what it says.
Who'd want to use it, lol
(Chunichi Shimbun, March 25, 2026)
In mid-October last year, as a coalition government between the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party looked increasingly likely, Suzuka Mayor Noriko Suematsu spoke with a grave look on her face.
"The connection between the IR (integrated resort) and the F1 bid may be becoming real. I feel a very strong sense of crisis about it."
The IR the mayor referred to is the casino-inclusive facility planned for the former Osaka-Kansai Expo site.
From 2025 onward, the Japanese Grand Prix looks set to become a head-to-head contest between Suzuka and Osaka.
And even for Suzuka, this fight won't be a simple one.
If you think of F1 as entertainment, a street race in a major city could draw huge crowds and deliver a major economic boost — a win-win for fans, organizers, and F1 alike.
■ Yumeshima IR (Osaka, Japan)
¥1.5 trillion
■ CityCenter (Las Vegas, USA)
¥855.6 billion
■ Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore)
¥522 billion
■ Marina Bay Sands (Singapore)
¥487 billion
■ Sands Cotai Central (Macau)
¥402.9 billion
>■ Yumeshima IR (Osaka, Japan)
>¥1.5 trillion
>■ CityCenter (Las Vegas, USA)
>¥855.6 billion
That one opened back in 2009, so the gap is basically explained by the weak yen — and once you adjust for inflation, it's actually smaller than it looks.
The hotels are already settled too.
[Hotels] MGM Osaka, MGM Osaka Villas, MUSUBI Hotel
There's just no bids because the price is too high. They'll probably end up lowering it.
Whoever set that price is the one to blame.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Development of an IR (integrated resort) is already underway on the former Expo site at Yumeshima, and hotel operators such as MGM Osaka have already been named in reports. What’s easy for readers to confuse is that this “zero bids” result applies not to the IR itself, but to the separate public call for redeveloping the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site, which was offered up first. In the thread, comments blur this bidding round together with the newly opened (as of July) call for developers for Yumeshima Phase 2 (roughly 420,000 square meters), and with the IR project itself — so it’s worth keeping straight which project is actually being discussed. Some posters argue the asking price (¥92.1 billion, per Yomiuri reporting) is simply too high, while others say it’s too early to judge since the bidding process has only just begun — opinion on the thread is split. The rivalry with Suzuka Circuit over hosting Japan’s F1 race is a separate topic tied to the broader IR development, and should be considered apart from whether the Expo site redevelopment itself succeeds or fails.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Zero Bids for Expo Site Redevelopment: “This Is No Laughing Matter” — International Tourism Hub Still Shrouded in Fog / In-Depth Report: The Legacy of the Osaka Expo (Part 2).”
