Hulic Forms Capital and Business Alliance With SQUEEZE, Starting With Hotel Conversion in Ginza
Hulic announced on September 18, 2026, that it will enter into a capital and business alliance agreement with SQUEEZE. Hulic plans to acquire approximately 5% of SQUEEZE's outstanding shares from existing shareholders, adding to the roughly 2% stake it acquired when SQUEEZE listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in April 2026.
The first joint project is the conversion of an office building in Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, into a hotel. The property, acquired on July 3, 2026, by HistoRy LLC, a joint venture between Hulic and Real Gate, will be converted into a 41-room apartment hotel designed for larger groups and multi-night stays, with SQUEEZE handling operations. The hotel is targeted to open around spring 2028.
For Hulic, the alliance is part of its effort to evolve into a "real estate trading company," a goal set out in its medium- to long-term management plan (2026–2036) announced in February 2026. SQUEEZE will apply two models to the Hulic Group's real estate and hotel operations platform: "full support," under which it handles hotel management down to day-to-day operations, and "technology support," under which it provides tools such as its suitebook property management system. In addition to the first project in Ginza, the companies plan to roll out a large number of renovation-based hotel projects.
SQUEEZE has been forming a series of partnerships with real estate companies. On June 18, 2026, it signed a comprehensive business alliance with Daiichi Realtor, which had become a major shareholder (holding 11.48%), and opened Minn Namba-Nipponbashi and Minn Shinagawa East. On June 23, it signed a franchise agreement with real estate developer GLC GROUP and plans to open Minn Naha Miebashi in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, as the first project.
