Gyeongnam Province-Geochang County-LH, Abandoned Lodging Facilities Reborn as 'Customized Youth Housing'

63 Households Including Newlyweds and Youths to Receive Lifelong Learning Club Rooms Installed

Geochang Abandoned Accommodation Facility Reborn as Customized Youth Housing in 2022 Rendering (Photo by Gyeongnam Province)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Gyeongnam Province announced that it has signed a consignment agreement with Geochang-gun and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) to actively promote the pilot project for the maintenance of construction sites with halted construction.

Through this agreement, all tasks related to the acquisition of halted construction buildings and the promotion of maintenance projects were entrusted to LH.

LH will acquire these buildings and reconstruct them into customized youth housing with 63 units.

They plan to utilize the housing as public rental housing supplied to newlyweds, youth, and university students at 60-80% of the surrounding market price.

There are also plans to install lifelong learning club rooms where local residents and local governments can participate together.

Originally, the lodging facility was scheduled to be built as a 15-story motel in Daepyeong-ri, Geochang-eup, Geochang-gun, but only the framework up to the 8th floor was completed before construction was halted for 10 years and left abandoned.

As a result, it became an eyesore in the area, damaging the street aesthetics and raising concerns about safety accidents, exposing various problems.

In response, Geochang-gun applied to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and was selected in December 2017 for the "Geochang-gun Lodging Facility Construction Halted Building Maintenance Pilot Project."

The province, Geochang-gun, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and LH formed a working-level consultative body to establish a pilot project plan considering Geochang-gun's development conditions, and LH was selected and announced as the entrusted business operator this time.

LH plans to obtain approval for the housing construction project plan from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport within this year and proceed with the project with a budget of 6.5 billion KRW, aiming for completion in 2022.

Yoon In-guk, Director of the Urban Transportation Bureau of the province, stated, "The abandoned Geochang lodging facility will be reborn as a new space that gives hope to youth and revitalizes the local economy and residents' lives, no longer an eyesore in the urban area."