Seoul City to Hold the 16th Urban and Architectural Joint Committee Meeting on the 23rd
Garosugil and Gasan District Unit Plan Areas Approved
'Garosugil District Unit Planning Area and Plan Proposal' Comprehensive Conceptual Map / Data=Seoul City Hall
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to diversify business types to sustainably revitalize the Garosu-gil commercial district. The policy aims to increase the proportion of food and beverage businesses, which has declined due to rising rents. Meanwhile, near G-Valley in Geumcheon-gu, a newly included area was added to encourage autonomous local redevelopment by designating a zone that was removed from the redevelopment planned area.
On the 24th, the city announced that at the '16th Urban and Architectural Joint Committee' held the previous day, the district unit plan and planning proposal for Garosu-gil in Gangnam-gu were amended and approved. Garosu-gil is a ginkgo tree-lined street stretching from Sinsa Station on Subway Line 3 to in front of Hyundai High School in Apgujeong-dong, forming a unique urban landscape where modern buildings blend with brick buildings from the 1980s and 1990s.
Garosu-gil has been popular as a representative commercial street in Seoul attracting young people, with fashion and beauty stores, global luxury brands, and IT stores. However, since COVID-19, social distancing measures have reduced foot traffic and increased vacancy rates, and with rising rents, food and beverage businesses have relocated to other residential areas, raising concerns that changes in the commercial district could lead to local decline.
With this district unit plan decision, the city aims to diversify business types to promote sustainable revitalization of Garosu-gil. Currently, the proportion of food and beverage businesses in Garosu-gil is 18%, which is low compared to other commercial streets such as Mangridan-gil (51%) and Songridan-gil (78%).
Accordingly, following the 2020 legal amendment allowing rooftop operations for food and beverage businesses, the city will provide floor area ratio incentives when such businesses are introduced on the top floors through building agreements and remodeling projects to encourage commercial diversity. Additionally, to prevent gentrification where rising rents push out food and beverage tenants, the city plans to offer additional floor area ratio incentives when a win-win agreement is signed to maintain rent increase periods beyond the legal limit (10 years).
Other measures include ▲planned management of development scale to maintain the street characteristics of Garosu-gil ▲creation of a pedestrian-centered street environment.
As the district unit plan proposal passed the Urban and Architectural Joint Committee review, the plan will undergo resident re-examination and official announcement procedures and is expected to be applied from the first half of next year.
On the same day, the district unit plan and planning proposal for Gasan district in Geumcheon-gu were also amended and approved. The Gasan district unit plan area covers 140-1 Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, adjacent to Nambusunhwan-ro and Geumcheon-gu National Industrial Complex (G-Valley) Phase 1 and Phase 2.
With the approval of this redevelopment plan, the second-class general residential area, which was removed from the redevelopment planned zone, is newly included to encourage autonomous local redevelopment through small-scale housing redevelopment projects. Additionally, to improve poor road conditions in the back areas, building setback line plans and recommended use plans to revitalize back street living streets were introduced.
Furthermore, to strengthen urban service functions supporting G-Valley, excessive prohibited uses in commercial areas were adjusted, and incentives for recommended uses were improved to allow the entry of business, tourism, lodging, and fashion-related stores.
The redevelopment plan will go through resident review procedures and is expected to be officially decided and announced as the final plan by the first half of next year at the earliest.
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