Large Shopping Center: Stella Town
Stella Town is a large shopping center located in Miyahara-cho 1-chome, Kita-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture. Built in 2004 as the central commercial facility within the area, it is considered a complex shopping center featuring both an enclosed mall, where stores line an indoor corridor opened by the Mitsui Fudosan Group, and an open mall, where stores line an outdoor corridor. Named after the site's history as the former location of the Fuji Heavy Industries (now SUBARU) Omiya Plant, the name "Stella" was chosen, meaning "star," derived from "Subaru" (the Pleiades), which is the origin of the "Subaru" brand name.
The Omiya Racecourse was established on this site in 1930 based on the Local Horse Racing Regulations. However, it was closed in 1939 under the Military Horse Resources Protection Law, bringing its history to an end after about 10 years. In 1943, the Nakajima Aircraft (now SUBARU) Omiya Plant was newly built on the former racecourse site. This Nakajima Aircraft Omiya Plant manufactured aircraft engines, but following the end of World War II in 1945, as Nakajima Aircraft transitioned into a peaceful industry focused on civilian manufacturing, it became the Fuji Sangyo Omiya Factory and shifted to producing civilian engines and light vehicles.
However, following the division of the company under the Enterprise Reconstruction and Reorganization Law, Fuji Sangyo became Omiya Kogyo in 1950 and continued its operations as Omiya Fuji Sangyo. In the latter half of the 1950s, it was also involved in the development of the "JO-1," the first domestically produced jet engine in the postwar period. Omiya Fuji Kogyo was integrated into Fuji Heavy Industries in 1955 following the merger of four companies: Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo, and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo, and it became the Fuji Heavy Industries Omiya Plant, serving as a production base for engines and light three-wheeled vehicles.
In 1995, the Fuji Heavy Industries Omiya Plant relocated to Kitamoto City, and the site was renamed the Omiya Office. In 1996, a portion of the former Fuji Heavy Industries Omiya Plant site was sold to the Omiya City Land Development Corporation and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation, and in March 1999, the removal of the large chimney, which had stood since the Nakajima Aircraft Omiya Plant era, began. Then, in April 2004, the shopping center Stella Town opened.