As we recently reported, Capella Hotels and Resorts is expanding their luxury brand with several new hotels and residential offerings in the upcoming years. The latest addition has just been announced. Capella Niseko is a resort and residence project set on 32 wooded acres adjacent to the popular ski destination Annupuri-Niseko Mountain in Niseko, on Japan’s northern-most island, Hokkaido.

Slated to open in 2010, the residences will be designed by Pritzker award-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, whose work emphasizes the use of natural light and forms that imitate and incorporate the surrounding landscape. Just two minutes from three interlinked ski resorts known for having the most prolific snowfalls in Japan, Capella Niseko will include approximately 150 residences, from stand-alone villas to condominium complexes. Residences will offer fireplaces, decks, outdoor spaces, and indoor/outdoor natural hot spring baths. The property will also feature an 80-room resort and a village center with an ice skating rink, Auriga spa, wellness center, pools, tennis courts, fine dining restaurant, an après ski lounge, and retail venues.

The property will join the Capella family which includes residences in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico’s Mayan Rivera and Telluride, Colo. Capella CEO Horst Schulze, the former President and COO of Ritz-Carlton Hotels, is committed to creating elegant properties with no more than 100 rooms that combine the storied luxury of top-tier resorts with the individualized service and unique experiences more commonly found in fine boutique hotels. This expansion to an Asian market signifies the brand’s adoption of an increasingly global approach with an emphasis of tapping into the growing wealth of buyers in the Asian markets. The tourism industry in Japan has in recent years set about to lure their newly rich Chinese neighbors, a turn around from decades of mutual neglect and derision.