Tokyu Land to spend $4.5 bln on urban development-media

TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Tokyu Land Corp (8815.T) plans to spend as much as 500 billion yen ($4.54 billion) over the next three years on urban development projects, as it sees a number of properties as bargains as foreign funds scale back their property investments, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday.

The real estate developer is considering launching 12 projects covering Tokyo's central Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chuo and Minato wards, as well as in other major cities such as Osaka and Nagoya, the Nikkei said.

A Tokyu Land spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Tokyu Land's business centres on both apartment sales and leasing commercial real estate. But the developer is now set to shift its focus to commercial real estate after apartment sales fell 15 percent in fiscal 2007, the paper said. (Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Chris Gallagher)