One concept sorely missing from the US real estate market is eki chok’ketsu (駅直結).
Eki chok’ketsu, which I render as Station Direct Linked, is used for commercial or residential developments that have unobstructed access to a rail station.
This means the station is accessible without ever crossing paths with any motorized vehicles, and without being exposed to the elements (when Station Direct Linked developments are not physically attached to the station, they are connected by means of a #SuperFlat Deck Level, usually fully roofed).
Station Direct Linked is the highest level of transit oriented convenience.
The following are some representative “Station Direct Linked” developments by the Hankyu Company.
Sannomiya Hankyu Building (shown above) is a 29 story tower featuring (from top to bottom):
– Observation deck (purple.
– Hotel (green).
– Offices (blue).
– Hankyu Line concourse (yellow). Note the tracks above the left side of the concourse.
– Shops (orange). 2 under ground floors and 3 above ground floors.
– Subway concourse (yellow).
Hankyu Itami-Reita shopping mall: 4 floors of shopping with Pachinko in the basement, food court on 5F and health clinics on 6F. Note the Hankyu rail tracks on 3F (above). A supermarket and bookstore are directly connected at Deck Level.
MEW shopping mall (shown above in yellow and blue): 5 floors of shopping, next to and above Hankyu Katsura Station (阪急桂駅) on the Hankyu Kyoto Line (阪急京都線).
Hankyu Bell Flora shopping mall: 2 floors of shopping, next to and under the elevated Hankyu Kawanishi-Noseguchi Station (阪急川西能勢口) on the Hankyu Takarazuka Line (阪急宝塚線).
JR Kawanishi-Ikeda (川西池田), an Aeon supermarket, a library, and three additional shopping malls (Mosaic Box, Hankyu department store, and Aste Kawanishi) are also directly linked (直結) to Bell Flora at deck level.
The satellite view below is highlighted as follows:
Dark Blue: Stations (Hankyu in the top right, JR in the bottom left)
Yellow: Deck Level
Orange: the car-free path for the 10 buildings of the Sakae-South housing projects (団地).
Cyan: Station Direct Linked (駅直結) buildings
– Mosaic Box (and integrated tower mansions) at the top
– Hankyu dept store & Aste Kawanishi in the middle
– Aeon (and integrated tower mansions) on the right
– Vertrauen building at the bottom
View of the Deck Level from JR Kawanishi-Ikeda (towards Vertraun building):
Looking towards JR Kawanishi-Ikeda from the middle of the Deck connecting to Aste Kawanishi:
The south entrance to Aste Kawanishi (note the Hankyu department store on the left):
The Deck Level connecting Aste (left), Kawanishi-Noseguchi Station (middle), and Aeon (right):
The Deck Level connecting Mosaic Box (left) and Hankyu Kawanishi-noseguchi Station (right):
Ming Hankyu Takatsuki: 2 floors of shopping next to and under the tracks. Notice the ticket gate (改札口) in the middle of 2F (floor guide shown above).
The north-west exit:
The south-east exit:
Under the tracks (高架下) exit through the mall:
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