Project Overview
Certified plan submitter / opening / information about facility 'LiLiLi'
Park-PFI Project
Sapporo's 1st
Yurigahara Park
Special Purpose Co.
SPV scheme
community-led
LiLiLi Opening
Oct 25, 2025
interaction facility
Yurigahara Park is a large urban park located in Kita Ward, Sapporo, serving as a resting place for Sapporo residents with functions for flower and greenery displays + events. Sapporo City applied Park-PFI (Public Offering Management System) to this park and selected the special purpose company 'YURIGAHARA PARK FUTURE LAB' as the certified plan submitter; the park interaction facility 'LiLiLi' opened on October 25, 2025. This is Sapporo City's first Park-PFI project.
The operating entity "YURIGAHARA PARK FUTURE LAB" initially operated as a consortium and was converted into a special purpose company in March 2025. Its lead is the general incorporated association SAPPORO PLACEMAKING LABO, with Marumi Coffee Ltd., Soushin Construction Co., Ltd., Donguri HD Co., Ltd., Ibic Foods Co., Ltd., and Kokusaku Co., Ltd. participating as constituent companies (commons Co., Ltd. joined later). The distinctive feature is that a community placemaking organization and local companies—rather than a major real estate developer—form the core.
Constituent Companies and Community-Led Model
SAPPORO PLACEMAKING LABO (lead) + local companies including Marumi Coffee and Soushin Construction
Yurigahara Park Park-PFI's distinctive feature is its locally-centered composition led by a community placemaking organization. In nationwide Park-PFI cases, major real estate developers (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Tokyu, Daiwa Lease, etc.) commonly serve as lead companies, but at Yurigahara Park, a community placemaking organization and Sapporo / Hokkaido companies form the core.
| Constituent | Positioning |
|---|---|
| SAPPORO PLACEMAKING LABO (general incorporated association) | Lead (community placemaking) |
| Marumi Coffee Ltd. | Café (dining + attraction) |
| Soushin Construction Co., Ltd. | Construction (facility development) |
| Donguri HD Co., Ltd. | Constituent company |
| Ibic Foods Co., Ltd. | Food |
| Kokusaku Co., Ltd. | Constituent company |
The lead, SAPPORO PLACEMAKING LABO, is an organization handling community placemaking. Marumi Coffee Ltd. handles dining and attraction as a Sapporo-founded coffee company, while Soushin Construction Co., Ltd. handles facility development. Multiple local companies participate across their respective fields in a complementary composition.
The composition yields three significances. First, by forming the project with local companies and a community organization, direct ripple effects on the local economy arise. Second, without major-developer leadership, operational decisions can more easily match community needs. Third, Marumi Coffee's Sapporo brand power can be leveraged as an attraction core.
Significance of the SPV Scheme
Significance of a special purpose company scheme led by a community placemaking organization
Yurigahara Park Park-PFI adopts an SPV (special purpose company) scheme led by a community placemaking organization. A form in which a community organization and local companies invest in a special purpose company to form the business entity—rather than a major developer leading alone—is, as far as can be confirmed, a minority nationwide. Three preconditions enable this scheme.
First, participating entities must have sufficient capital for project implementation. When forming a project centered on local companies, substituting for major company capital is difficult, and the upper limit of project scale becomes constrained. At Yurigahara Park, business design suppresses project scale to the medium-scale park interaction facility "LiLiLi," achievable with local capital.
Second, track record and trust relationships among participants. An SPV requires frequent decision coordination during project implementation, and without prior collaboration track record, decision delays or ambiguous responsibility division arise. The lead placemaking organization plays the role of coordinating local companies.
Third, municipal offering design that encourages community participation. Cases often include conditions in public offering guidelines that make it easier for local operators and organizations to participate, reflecting municipal policy intent.
Seasonal Variation Response in Severe Cold Region Park-PFI
Balancing winter attraction decline with year-round operating cost design
Hokkaido is a severe cold region with sub-zero winter temperatures (December-March), experiencing significant seasonal variation with major winter attraction decline in outdoor parks. Different from urban Park-PFI (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc.), business design presuming year-round operation cannot be simply applied.
Yurigahara Park Park-PFI's business design must account for this seasonal variation. During winter attraction decline, a portion of year-round operating costs is covered by spring-fall peak revenue. The indoor park interaction facility "LiLiLi" maintains constant attraction even in winter through indoor-type design, partially mitigating seasonal variation impact.
Implications for Other Municipalities
Severe cold region + local company alliance Park-PFI business model
Three points to consider by municipalities referencing Yurigahara Park.
First, severe cold region Park-PFI requires business design responding to seasonal variation. Rather than presuming year-round operation, settle with operators through dialogue on business models where peak-season revenue covers year-round operating costs.
Second, a composition centered on local companies and a community organization presupposes suppressing project scale to medium-scale or smaller. In large-scale cases, business viability fails to be reached with local capital alone, making mixed alliances adding major companies realistic.
Third, the lead organisation in a community-led SPV coordinates participants. Unclear duties or decision rights can delay decisions. Review the proposed division of work during procurement and specify responsibilities and decision procedures in the contract.
Park-PFI Complete Guide
Comprehensive explanation of the system, procedures, and cases
Hisaya-odori Park Independent-Accounting Park-PFI
The business scheme of Japan's largest-class Park-PFI
Tsurumai Park Park-PFI 100+ Years of History
Park-PFI utilization of a historic urban park
What to do next
When using a case to inform a project, check how its conditions differ from the target park.
| # | What to check or consider | Responsible team or contact |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Compare the case with the target park's area, location and users. Do not assess viability from population size alone | Published records and target park surveys |
| 2 | Obtain the case municipality's solicitation guidelines and selection results. Ask the responsible team for records not published online | Parks team in the case municipality |
| 3 | Compare the minimum fee in the guidelines with the fee in the selected proposal | Solicitation guidelines and selection results |
| 4 | Check existing building footprints and building coverage limits in the target park's local ordinance | Parks team |
| 5 | Present the target park's conditions and the case evidence, and ask operators about their interest and requirements | Market sounding |
To apply a case to the target park, examine the solicitation terms and selected proposal. Identify which conditions are relevant, accounting for differences in area, location and users.
This coverage-ratio uplift is not 10 percentage points for rest facilities and another 10 for solicited park facilities: the two share a single 10%. In a park that has already reached 12% with rest or sports facilities, no new amenity facility can be added as a solicited park facility. Both that 10% and the ordinary 2% are figures the law asks local governments to take into account, and the ratio that applies is the one each local government sets in its own ordinance.
References
Park-PFI Implementation Status (as of 31 March 2026) — MLIT City Bureau (2026)
Park-PFI Case Collection — MLIT City Bureau (2026)
Guidelines on Using Park-PFI to Improve Urban Park Quality (May 2025 revision) — MLIT City Bureau (2025)
