7 Small Concession Case Studies — Municipal Approaches to Revitalizing Idle Public Assets [2026 Edition]

A small port town of approximately 6,600 residents. The target facility is the former folk museum, a historic townhouse.

EnjoyWorks was selected as the specialist. The firm specializes in community development, with particular strengths in crowdfunding-driven real estate renovation (fan-investment model). It has a strong track record in small-scale historic building monetization through shared vacation homes, guesthouses, and co-working spaces.

Why EnjoyWorks? Manazuru Town has tourism potential as a port town, but as a small municipality with limited fiscal capacity, generating consultant fees independently in the future would be difficult. EnjoyWorks specializes in "small-scale community-driven revitalization" and brings crowdfunding fundraising know-how. This is not the type of large-scale project that PwC or Deloitte would typically handle — selecting a firm whose core business is small-scale, locally rooted activation was a natural outcome.

A core city of approximately 190,000 residents. The target facility is the former Kamiya family residence (a historic townhouse) located within a historic park.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was selected as the specialist.

Why Deloitte? The key factor is the legal complexity of operating within a historic park. Sites designated as historic sites generate complex legal questions at the intersection of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties and urban planning law. Designing a scheme that introduces revenue-generating activities without impairing the historic site's value requires advisors with expertise in both cultural property utilization and public-private partnerships. This type of project demands the legal and regulatory risk management capacity of a major consulting firm — Deloitte's selection directly responds to that requirement.

A core city of approximately 520,000 residents, known for Himeji Castle. The target facility is the former Hamamoto family residence (a historic townhouse).

Hankyu CM (Construction Management) was selected as the specialist. The firm specializes in owner-side support (construction management) for PPP/PFI projects and has particular strength in public-private partnership projects in the Kansai region.

Why Hankyu CM? Himeji City has strong tourism assets as a castle town, making tourism, accommodation, and food and beverage the leading candidates for townhouse utilization. For a core city of this scale, "quality control of renovation construction" and "ensuring transparency in operator selection" become critical at the time of project implementation. Hankyu CM's construction management expertise allows it to support both of these needs in an integrated manner — a rare capability in this field.

A core city of approximately 350,000 residents. The target facility is the former chief retainer's residence of the Yagyu Domain (a historic townhouse designated as a cultural property).

PwC was selected as the specialist.

Why PwC? Buildings designated as cultural properties face fundamental restrictions on monetization methods. Because normal renovation and change of use are restricted under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, the work involves a complex interplay of legal scrutiny (what is and isn't permitted), coordination with cultural property departments at the national, prefectural, and municipal levels, and designing alternative approaches to ensure financial viability. Cultural property utilization in a historic city like Nara is among the most technically demanding projects in Japan, requiring the legal and financial expertise of an internationally prominent major consulting firm. Designing a revenue model that preserves the property's cultural heritage value while enabling private-sector creativity — this is the role expected of PwC.

A rural municipality of approximately 6,200 residents. This is a complex case involving the integrated utilization of three facilities: the former Takashima Elementary School, a former clinic, and a former residence.

A consortium of Area Craft Hokkaido (an incorporated association) and Hokkaido Hakuhodo was selected as the specialist. This is the most noteworthy selection in the entire program.

Why Area Craft Hokkaido + Hokkaido Hakuhodo? Ikeda Town is a small municipality in rural Hokkaido, where large Tokyo-based consultancies tend to produce proposals disconnected from the local reality. The two-tier consortium structure — an incorporated association functioning as a locally rooted expert, with Hokkaido Hakuhodo handling communication design and community consensus-building — was evaluated as a support framework that deeply understands the local context.

A hot spring resort city of approximately 19,000 residents. The target facility is the former city hall building.

Construction Engineering Research Institute was selected as the specialist.

Why Construction Engineering Research Institute? The utilization of a former city hall must begin with a professional assessment of the building's structure, equipment, and seismic performance. Converting a building constructed for administrative use into a facility amenable to private use requires construction expertise at every step: facility condition survey → renovation cost estimation → financial simulation. In a hot spring resort like Shimoda, accommodation, food and beverage, and co-working are all viable utilization directions for the former city hall — but in each case, accurately understanding the building's condition is the prerequisite.

A farming and fishing community of approximately 15,000 residents. The target facility is the former Nagasu Junior High School.

Construction Engineering Research Institute was selected as the specialist (the same firm as Shimoda City). For detailed procedures on former school utilization, see Complete Guide to Former School Utilization.

Why Construction Engineering Research Institute? The viability of repurposing a former school is directly tied to the question of "how usable is the building?" Seismic assessment, asbestos screening, and rough cost estimates for use-change renovation — these cannot be accurately evaluated without construction specialists. Before determining the direction of use, accurately understanding the facility's current condition is the first step, and that is the expertise expected of construction consultancies.

Four of the 7 municipalities (Manazuru, Anjo, Himeji, and Nara) are targeting historic townhouses. This is not coincidental — it reflects the national government's promotion strategy, which positions "historic townhouses and similar structures donated by residents" as primary targets.

Why are historic townhouses overrepresented? There are three structural reasons.

① Appropriate scale: Historic townhouses are relatively small in floor area (roughly 100–300 m²), making renovation costs lower than schools or government buildings. They naturally fit the Small Concession definition of projects under 10 billion yen.

② Monetization diversity: There are many revenue options that combine with regional resources — tourism, food and beverage, accommodation, and experiential lodging. Unlike former schools, which often struggle to secure a user base, historic townhouses function as tourism content in their own right as "historical buildings."

③ Post-donation utilization challenges: Municipalities that have received donated townhouses from residents often hold the properties without being able to make effective use of them. These "negative assets" that consume maintenance costs without generating value can be transformed into resources through private-sector involvement — an outcome that also aligns with the original donor's intent.

The diversity of selected specialists is striking. From globally prominent major firms (PwC, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu) to large construction consultancies (Construction Engineering Research Institute), urban development firms (EnjoyWorks), and an incorporated association (Area Craft Hokkaido) — the cases span a wide range in organizational scale, legal form, and local embeddedness.

The Ikeda Town case makes a clear statement: given an appropriate consortium and a proposal matched to the regional and facility characteristics, an incorporated association can beat major consultancies in the selection process. The "small" in Small Concession applies not only to project cost, but also to the organizational scale of the specialists involved.

The 7 municipalities range in population from approximately 6,200 (Ikeda Town) to approximately 520,000 (Himeji City). Three municipalities have fewer than 20,000 residents (Manazuru Town, Ikeda Town, and Nagasu Town).

The existence of a nationally funded specialist dispatch program means that even municipalities with limited fiscal capacity can overcome the "implementation barrier." Without this program, small municipalities that cannot independently generate consultant fees would be excluded from the outset.