Mapo-gu Yeomni-dong New Office Building Youth Safety Housing Constructed Through Donation and Dedication

Mapo-gu & Yeomni-dong Youth Safe Housing Project Operator 'Mastern Investment Management' Signs Agreement for Yeomni-dong Community Center Construction on 24th... 30-Year-Old Yeomni-dong Community Center to Be Replaced with New Building by 2025
District Mayor Park Gang-su: "Grateful for Operator's Bold Decision to Secure New Center Without Huge Budget Burden for Mapo Residents"

Park Kang-su, Mayor of Mapo District (left), and Hong Seong-hyeok, CEO of Maston Investment Management

The Yeomni-dong Community Center in Mapo-gu will be built through a donation and transfer without the expenses initially anticipated by the district.

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) announced that the Yeomni-dong Community Center will be newly reborn within the Youth Safety Housing to be developed at Yeomni-dong 85-2.

Mapo-gu revealed that on November 24, after practical consultations with Maston Investment Management Co., Ltd., the project implementer of the Youth Safety Housing, they signed the "Yeomni-dong Community Center Construction Agreement."

The Yeomni-dong Community Center, which has been in use for over 30 years, had outdated facilities and limited space, causing significant inconvenience to residents. However, since the building is located within the current urban renewal promotion district, there were construction restrictions and a huge budget requirement, making the construction of a new community center difficult.

Then, while Mapo-gu was conducting administrative procedures for the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s approval of the station-area Youth Safety Housing project near the Yeomni-dong Community Center site (former KT Mapo Solution Building site) last year, a new breakthrough was found.

As the zoning for the Yeomni-dong Youth Safety Housing project was upgraded from a Category 3 General Residential Area to a Semi-Residential Area, it was required to meet a 10% public contribution rate (public contribution facility area: public office 1,482.37㎡, rental housing 7 units). Based on this, Mapo-gu continuously negotiated with Seoul, the authority approving the project plan, and decided to receive part of the public contribution facilities as a donation and transfer for use as a community center from the project implementer.

Not stopping there, Mapo-gu was concerned that the donated community center located on the second floor above ground might reduce convenience for residents, so it continued additional consultations with Maston Investment Management Co., Ltd., the project implementer, to derive improvement plans.

As a result, the district secured additional space for the community center on the first floor above ground and included improvements allowing the community center to exclusively use part of the outdoor space on the second floor, as well as interior construction inside the community center. On the 24th, the district signed an agreement with the project implementer reflecting these improvements.

On that day, Hong Seong-hyeok, CEO of Maston Investment Management, expressed the reason for accepting the project plan changes, saying, “We deeply sympathize with Mapo-gu’s intention to prioritize the convenience of Yeomni-dong residents,” and added, “In addition to the Youth Safety Housing project aimed at stabilizing housing for young people, we are very proud to contribute to regional development through the construction of the new Yeomni-dong community center,” receiving enthusiastic applause from residents at the signing ceremony.

Thus, the district will save a huge budget required for the new community center construction while securing a public office that both local residents and youth housing tenants can use comfortably and conveniently in the future.

The Yeomni-dong Youth Housing Construction Project (4 basement floors to 16 above-ground floors, total floor area 38,451㎡, 499 apartment units) is scheduled to begin construction in November and be completed in 2025, with plans to complete the Yeomni-dong new community center accordingly.

At the agreement ceremony on the 24th, Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, “I am truly pleased that the small and outdated Yeomni-dong Community Center will be transformed into a comfortable new community center without a large budget burden,” and added, “I sincerely thank Maston Investment Management Co., Ltd., the project implementer, for making the difficult decision to build the community center for the residents of Mapo-gu.”