Final Decision on Private Sale of Block 12 in Godeok Gangil 3 District
Gangdong-gu Cheers Amid Concerns Over Loss of School Land
The black square indicates the location of Block 12 in Godeok Gangil 3 District. There are no elementary schools nearby, and the closest school on the left is blocked by a highway, while the right side borders Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province. (Naver Map capture)
Last week, when Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) announced the sale of the 12BL (block) of multi-family residential land in Goduk Gangil 3 District, Sangil-dong, Gangdong-gu, the Gangdong District Office welcomed the news. Why did the Gangdong District Office greet the decision of SH Corporation, the public land developer of Seoul City, so positively?
Block 12 was originally land intended for private sale. If the public sector sold it through the highest bid or lottery method, a private developer would win the bid and build apartments for sale. However, the situation changed when Seoul City considered supplying leasehold sale housing and newlywed hope towns here last year. Block 12 is 36,500㎡ of land valued at 274.3 billion KRW, making it the largest among blocks 9 to 14 in Goduk Gangil 3 District. Among the six blocks in Goduk Gangil 3 District, four blocks are already composed of small-sized public rental housing such as national rental, happy housing, and long-term lease, with some public sale apartments.
The problem is the school. There was originally an elementary school site just above Block 12, but the establishment was delayed due to a lack of students in the area. It was an ambiguous situation because there were students, but not enough to build a school. Goduk Gangil 3 District is awkwardly located between the Seoul Metropolitan Area 1st Ring Expressway on the left and Hanam Misaji District on the right. Therefore, children had to cross a major road to attend Gangsol Elementary School in Gangil-dong to the north, which is up to 1.5 km away.
Elementary students had to cross large roads three times or take a school bus early in the morning, raising safety concerns on the commute, which the district office worried about. The education office can forecast the school-age population based on apartment types and age groups. Rental apartments and happy housing tend to have older or mostly young adult residents, so even if apartments are built, the school-age population does not increase significantly.
On the other hand, mid-to-small sized sale apartments, where the main age group is in their 30s and 40s, have a higher proportion of school-age children. Therefore, building private sale apartments as originally intended increases the likelihood of constructing an elementary school. Gangdong District Mayor Lee Soo-hee said, "Residents are concerned that the school site might be repurposed for other uses due to the lack of students."
The district mayor has met with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Minister of Education, the Mayor of Seoul, and the president of SH Corporation, and has continuously proposed and negotiated with related agencies including the Prime Minister's Office to establish an elementary school. This time, the desired outcome was achieved.
Fortunately, changes in circumstances also helped. Facing the dual challenges of school closures and overcrowding due to demographic changes, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced an alternative urban campus (branch school) model last October. Even when establishing a school is difficult, the ‘second campus school’ model as a branch of a nearby elementary school became feasible, and Goduk Gangil 3 District was mentioned as a candidate site.
Block 10 in Goduk Gangil 3 District (593 households, e-Pyeonhansesang Goduk Urban Bridge) will be occupied early next year. Block 12 will have 613 apartment units.
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