Creation of Hannam-dong Cafe Street Linked with Yongsan-gu Craft Center

Utilizing 700 Million KRW Special City Grant... Sidewalk Maintenance and Design Work on Itaewon-ro and Itaewon-ro 54-gil by September... Itaewon Specialty Street and Gyeongridan-gil Renovation Also Underway

Installation Plan for Sculptures in Hannam-dong Cafe Street

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Recently, the hottest street in Yongsan is the back alley of Hannam-dong (Itaewon-ro 54-gil) adjacent to ‘Nine One Hannam’. The area attracts young people’s footsteps with its luxury apartments where celebrities and businesspeople reside, unique restaurants, cafes, and shops.

Yongsan-gu (District Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) is carrying out a project to create a cafe street in Hannam-dong from this month until September.

The project aims to create a specialized commercial district in connection with the Yongsan Craft Center (Itaewon-ro 274).

The project area covers 500 meters around Itaewon-ro 258?286 and Itaewon-ro 54-gil 1?53. Sidewalk maintenance and design work will be conducted simultaneously.

In particular, Itaewon-ro, where the Yongsan Craft Center (opened in 2018) is located, will unify the sidewalk pavement materials and design to reflect the sensibility of traditional Korean crafts. Wrapping work to promote the Craft Center’s name and image is planned for 10 street distribution boxes.

Also, on Itaewon-ro 54-gil, which borders residential and commercial spaces, shade structures, benches, and landscape lighting will be installed using the extra space on the sidewalks so that citizens can rest. A sculpture that indicates the ‘cafe street’ will be placed in the middle of the street.

The project budget is 700 million KRW from the city’s special grant fund.

Seong Jang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “We will proceed with the design work so that the Yongsan Craft Center and the Hannam-dong cafe street area can establish themselves as new hot spots. This will help revive the local economy, which has been depressed due to COVID-19.”

In addition to the Hannam-dong cafe street, the district is also conducting maintenance work on Itaewon’s specialized streets [World Food Street (Itaewon-ro 27ga-gil), Vietnam Quy Nhon Street (Bogwang-ro 59-gil)], and Gyeongridan-gil (Hoenamu-ro).

The maintenance of Itaewon’s specialized streets will continue until October. A total of 1.5 billion KRW will be spent on road and sidewalk maintenance, lighting, stairs, and mural design work.

Location Map of Hannam-dong Cafe Street Development Project

On Gyeongridan-gil, 1.96 billion KRW will be invested to carry out road and sidewalk maintenance, create an event plaza and rest area, and install photo zones and an observatory by the end of the year.