General Meeting Held on the 19th at aT Center in Yangjae-dong
After Various Trials and Tribulations, Approved by the Promotion Committee After 20 Years
If Cooperative Establishment is Approved Within the Year, Reconstruction Will Get on Track
The Eunma Apartment in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, known as the symbol of reconstruction in the Gangnam area, has elected a union president and entered the final stage of establishing the union. It has been 20 years since the Reconstruction Promotion Committee was formed. Eunma Apartment had long remained a 'reconstruction candidate site' amid repeated conflicts among owners and strict regulations imposed due to concerns over rising housing prices. As the establishment of the union at Eunma Apartment is anticipated, housing prices, which had sharply fallen during the real estate downturn, are showing a V-shaped rebound trend.
According to the maintenance industry on the 21st, Eunma Apartment held a general meeting for the establishment of the union on the 19th at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu. It has been a full 20 years since the reconstruction promotion began in 1998 and the promotion committee was approved on December 31, 2003. Choi Jeong-hee, the current reconstruction promotion chairman, was elected as the first union president. The candidates for union president were Chairman Choi and Lee Jae-seong, the representative of the Eunma Owners' Council. Out of 4,278 total union members, 3,654 participated in the vote. Chairman Choi received 2,702 votes (76.3%) among them.
Choi Jeong-hee, the first union president, said, "The most important thing is time. Although we have been preparing for reconstruction since 1999, enormous sunk costs have been incurred over 24 years, and opportunity costs have been lost," pledging to start relocation within two years. She also promised to reduce the contribution fees and introduce a new 31-pyeong unit.
The promotion committee expects the project to get on track once it receives approval for union establishment from Gangnam District Office within this year.
Eunma Apartment passed the safety inspection threshold in 2010 but repeatedly faced setbacks in the maintenance plan review. It drew intense scrutiny from the government and Seoul City due to rising housing prices, living up to its reputation as the 'top reconstruction target in the private education hotspot.' Ongoing conflicts among owners were also a barrier to reconstruction.
The stalled reconstruction of Eunma Apartment began moving again after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon took office and various maintenance project regulations were eased. Last October, it passed the Seoul City maintenance plan review with a design plan of up to 35 floors.
According to the maintenance plan, Eunma Apartment will be newly built through reconstruction from the existing 14 floors, 28 buildings, and 4,424 households to a maximum of 35 floors, 33 buildings, and 5,778 households (including 678 public housing units). Among these, 771 units will be for general sale, with construction starting in 2027 and occupancy targeted for 2030. However, this maintenance plan is expected to change after union establishment approval. Since Seoul City abolished the '35-floor rule' through the 2040 Seoul Urban Basic Plan in January, it is highly likely that the existing 35-floor maintenance plan will be raised to 49 floors and the number of households increased.
Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is speaking at a meeting on the private investment project for the Metropolitan Area Express Railway (GTX) Line C held at the Gangnam-gu Community Center in Seoul last November.
However, there are many challenges to resolve, such as high additional contribution fees for union members and whether the metropolitan area express railroad (GTX)-C line will pass through the complex. If the number of floors is increased, the issue of additional contribution fees is also expected to be somewhat alleviated. Although Eunma Apartment is highly symbolic, its floor area ratio is 204%, so its business feasibility is not excellent. Under the current plan, additional contribution fees for union members are estimated to be around 300 million to 700 million KRW.
As the reconstruction of Eunma Apartment becomes more visible, transactions are actively taking place. According to the real transaction data platform Apartment Real Transaction Price, Eunma Apartment recorded the highest number of transactions in Gangnam-gu this year with 82 cases from January to the present day. At the same time, prices are also showing a V-shaped rebound. For an 84㎡ unit, after reaching a peak price of 2.82 billion KRW in November 2021, prices fell to 2.1 billion KRW in October last year due to the real estate downturn but recently changed hands at 2.65 billion KRW, recovering rapidly. A representative from a real estate agency in Daechi-dong said, "With the establishment of the Eunma reconstruction union imminent, housing prices seem poised to surpass Mido, a nearby reconstruction complex that has always been more expensive than Eunma," adding, "Fully renovated units in the royal area are listed at around 2.8 billion KRW."
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