Urban Complex Projects Announced Up to 5th Round... Repeated Failures
Resident Consent Rate Raised to 35% Ahead of 6th Announcement
Residents Say "If Daecheongmaeul Is Designated, 2·4 Measures Will Gain Momentum"
Government Negative... No Urgency for Development and Requirements Not Met
No Sites in Gangnam Area... Future Candidate Designations Likely Difficult
"Please designate Daecheong Village as a candidate site for the Urban Public Housing Complex Project. If a large-scale public housing complex is built in Gangnam, not only will the 2·4 Plan gain momentum, but the real estate market in Gangnam, the epicenter of skyrocketing housing prices, can also be stabilized."
Residents of 'Daecheong Village,' located in Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are raising their voices in favor of designating their area as a candidate site for the Urban Public Housing Complex Project. According to the real estate industry on the 23rd, the residents of Daecheong Village have increased the resident consent rate to 35% ahead of the announcement of the 6th candidate site selection scheduled for next month. Daecheong Village has been considered a strong candidate for the 'first Gangnam area' since early this year, but it has repeatedly faced setbacks during the announcement of candidate sites up to the 5th round of the Urban Complex Project.
High resident consent rate in Gangnam area... but resident opposition
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has designated a total of 52 candidate sites for the Urban Complex Project in five rounds since the announcement of the 2·4 Plan. This project involves supplying housing through high-density development led by public institutions targeting station areas, low-rise residential areas, and semi-industrial zones. It is characterized by easing urban regulations such as floor area ratio incentives and significantly accelerating the process through integrated approval reviews.
So far, candidate sites in Seoul have included Geumcheon-gu, Dobong-gu, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Gangbuk-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, and Jungnang-gu, but none have been in the Gangnam area. Earlier this year, the Gangnam District Office proposed five areas, including Daecheong Village, as candidate sites for the Urban Complex Project to MOLIT, but there has been no response so far. Residents of Daecheong Village, who started obtaining resident consent early and have now raised the consent rate to 35%, are expressing frustration over the continuous failure to designate the site as a candidate.
A representative of the Daecheong Village residents' delegation said, "MOLIT blames the Seoul city government, and Seoul blames MOLIT, delaying the process repeatedly," adding, "Because it is Gangnam, the project feasibility is good, and residents are proactive, so it is frustrating." Another official explained, "If Daecheong Village is selected as a candidate site and apartment development proceeds, it will be reborn as a housing complex with about 8,000 households," adding, "This could help stabilize housing prices in Gangnam."
On April 28th, residents held placards at a press conference urging the redevelopment of Daechung Village in Irwon-dong, held in front of Seoul City Hall.
Government: "No urgency for development in Irwon-dong"
However, the likelihood of MOLIT designating the Gangnam area, including Daecheong Village, as a candidate site for the Urban Complex Project is currently very low. The biggest issue with Daecheong Village is that most of the area falls under the Type 1 residential zone. Previously, MOLIT and the Seoul city government agreed during the public development candidate site selection process to focus mainly on Type 2 and 3 zones and to maintain Type 1 zones as much as possible.
A MOLIT official explained, "For low-rise residential areas, the main target is Type 2 and 3 zones, but Irwon-dong is mostly Type 1 currently," adding, "Type 1 zones can be included if they were previously designated redevelopment areas that were canceled or if there is a need to develop as a single district under urban planning, but Irwon-dong does not meet these conditions." In particular, Daecheong Village has favorable conditions such as density and road access rate for redevelopment projects, and both Seoul city and MOLIT have reportedly judged that "there is no urgency for development."
Opposition from some multi-homeowner residents against public development is also a problem. According to the residents' delegation, about 400 out of 2,000 total owners are multi-homeowners. Since multi-homeowners would face significant cash settlements if public development proceeds, opposition voices are inevitably strong. A resident of Daecheong Village expressed concern, saying, "While the candidate site designation is delayed, new villas continue to be built," adding, "As the aging level decreases, it will become more difficult to promote redevelopment projects in the future."
No Gangnam area designation expected for Urban Complex Project
There is an analysis that it will be difficult to find candidate sites in the Gangnam area for the time being, as there are no alternative areas suitable for the Urban Complex Project besides Daecheong Village. The other areas proposed by the Gangnam District Office, excluding Daecheong Village, are small in scale and are reportedly being considered for small-scale redevelopment projects rather than the Urban Complex Project. In particular, MOLIT plans to designate candidate sites in Seoul mainly based on areas submitted through local governments and focus on finding candidate sites in other provinces.
MOLIT also started an integrated public proposal for private proposals related to the Urban Complex Project from today, but Seoul areas were excluded even from the proposal targets. A MOLIT official said, "The policy of MOLIT is to promote public-led development to expand housing supply while entrusting parts that the private sector can do well to the private sector," adding, "Since there is high demand for private development in the Gangnam area, it seems that the Urban Complex Project will continue to be difficult there."
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