Who Is Hong Seong-yeol, Who Swept Up the Purchase of 'Park Geun-hye, Lee Myung-bak, and Moon Jae-in's Residences'?

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Hong Sung-yeol, chairman of Mario Outlet, who purchased the residences of former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak as well as former President Moon Jae-in, is called the "Godfather of the Korean outlet market."

Chairman Hong, born in 1954 in Dangjin, Chungnam, entered the fashion and distribution business by founding Mario Sangsa in 1980. In 1985, he successfully established the knitwear brand "Carte Knit" in both domestic and international markets, gaining prominence in the industry. Due to this success, he is regarded as a "first-generation leader in fashion" within the industry.

After the IMF crisis, he introduced the outlet system, which was gaining attention as an advanced distribution format in the US and Japan, to Korea. He purchased land around the Guro Industrial Complex (now Guro Digital Complex) in Seoul and opened Korea's first urban fashion outlet, "Mario Outlet," in 2001, achieving another major success. After opening Building 1 in 2001, Buildings 2 and 3 were opened consecutively, and the three connected buildings expanded into what is now known as "Mario Fashion Town."

Chairman Hong completed the "Executive Management Program" and "Opinion Leaders Program" at Sogang University and received an honorary doctorate in economics in 2015. In 2017, he was selected as the recipient of the "Proud Sogangian Award" by the alumni association. At that time, the alumni association praised Mario Outlet, which transformed a devastated industrial complex area into a fashion distribution hub and became Asia's largest urban outlet, as a representative case of a company revitalizing the local economy.

Hong attracted public attention for his real estate acquisitions starting in 2015. In December of that year, Mario Outlet purchased a herb farm in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province, owned by Jeon Jae-guk, eldest son of former President Chun Doo-hwan, for 11.8 billion KRW. In 2017, Hong made headlines again by purchasing former President Park Geun-hye's residence in Samseong-dong for 6.7 billion KRW. The Samseong-dong residence was where Park lived for about 23 years from 1990 until she entered the Blue House in February 2013.

Last year, Hong also acquired former President Lee Myung-bak's residence in Nonhyeon-dong. The Nonhyeon-dong residence, which was seized to recover Lee's unpaid fines and penalties, was won at auction for 11.156 billion KRW. In February of this year, Hong purchased former President Moon Jae-in's residence in Maegok-dong, Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam, where Moon lived before his inauguration. With the registration of ownership transfer on the 25th, Hong became the person who owns the residences of three former presidents.