Mayor Oh Se-hoon to Reinitiate DMC Landmark Project After 11 Years

March Supply Plan Announcement... Negotiator Selection Within the Year
133-Story Building Plan Established but Canceled in 2012

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is reviving the Seoul Mapo-gu Sangam-dong Digital Media City (DMC) landmark development project, which was abandoned during former Mayor Park Won-soon's tenure in 2012.

According to Seoul City on the 15th, the city plans to announce the DMC landmark site sale and supply plan next month. The selection of the preferred negotiation partner is scheduled to be completed within this year.

The DMC landmark development project has been planned by Seoul City since 2004. In 2009, during Mayor Oh’s previous term, there was a plan to construct a 133-story landmark building in DMC, consisting of a shopping mall, department store, aquarium, corporate promotion center, and hotel.

Afterwards, the city began the project by selling the site to Seoul Light Tower, composed of 25 investors including Daewoo Construction, but the project was halted when former Mayor Park terminated the contract in 2012 due to delayed land payments and other reasons.

This site was also announced in 2020 by the Moon Jae-in administration as part of the August 4 housing supply plan to provide housing for approximately 2,000 households.

Mayor Oh has expressed his intention to revive the DMC landmark development project since the 2021 re-election and by-election. At that time, Mayor Oh said, "DMC is a key area to transform Seoul’s industrial ecosystem with advanced industries suitable for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. We will create new vitality for the stalled DMC by employing urban planning solutions that can induce private development."

The currently vacant DMC landmark site covers an area of 37,262 square meters. The total project cost is estimated to exceed 4 trillion won. Precise details regarding the project cost and the number of floors have not yet been finalized.

Meanwhile, Park Kang-soo, Mayor of Mapo-gu, released a press statement on the same day, saying, "We hope that the long-awaited project of local residents proceeds smoothly so that DMC can be reborn as a hub for Seoul’s media industry and the economic center of the northwest region, as originally intended."