Hot Place Yongridan-gil Attracts Visitors
Behind the Scenes: Parking Disputes, Conflicts, and Pedestrian Safety Threats
Kim Byung-jun, Head of External Strategy Team, Searches for Idle Land and Takes Action
Agrees with KEPCO to Utilize Development Site Parking Lot
Plans to Create a 200-Space Public Parking Lot, Operating from Next Year
Win-Win for Residents and KEPCO... Revitalizing Yongridan-gil Commercial Area
Kim Byung-jun, Head of External Strategy Team at Yongsan District Office, who led the project to create a public parking lot using idle land, is explaining the KEPCO Samgakji Substation development site. This area was densely covered with vegetation in summer, and during the rainy season, water accumulated causing many complaints about mosquitoes and odors. Behind the site, the Samgak Mansion, which is undergoing reconstruction, can be seen. Photo by Kim Min-jin enter@
‘Yongridan-gil’ in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, which has emerged as a hotspot for the MZ generation (born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s), is a place where disputes and conflicts due to illegal parking and issues with pedestrian safety are incessant, matching its reputation.
In the 400-meter section of Hangang-daero 62-gil extending from Samgakji Station on subway lines 4 and 6 toward Sinyongsan Station, an average of about 20 parking-related complaints are received monthly, indicating severe conflicts. The floating population continues to increase as visitors and tourists flock to the shops near Samgakji, where the presidential office is located, and the restaurants on Yongridan-gil, but parking facilities or places to briefly park cars are severely lacking.
However, there is no land available to build new parking lots. Residential areas have been transformed into hot-spot restaurants, and the land price in nearby general commercial zones has soared to an appraisal value of 280 million KRW per 3.3㎡ (1 pyeong).
In this situation, Yongsan-gu Office devised a clever solution. Public officials from the district office secured a parking lot site with a capacity of 200 spaces by going out on foot. Kim Byung-jun, head of the External Strategy Team in the Future Strategy Division of Yongsan-gu Office, conducted a full survey of unused sites within the district last year. The idea was that effectively utilizing idle land could benefit residents and visitors to Yongsan, as well as bring economic effects such as revitalizing the commercial district.
One site that caught their attention was the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Samgakji Substation development site at the entrance of Yongridan-gil near the Samgakji Station exit (Hangang-ro 1-ga 231-30 area). This land, along with the adjacent Samgak Mansion site, is designated as a special planning zone (totaling 20,860㎡) and is scheduled for development, but the process has been delayed, leaving it unused for a long time.
The site of the KEPCO Samgakji Substation development at 231-30 Hangangno 1-ga, where a temporary public parking lot will be established in Yongsan-gu. Provided by Yongsan-gu.
Team leader Kim thought that temporarily using this land as a public parking lot could not only solve nearby parking problems but also further revitalize the local commercial area. He gained support through consultations with related departments within the district office, including the Parking Management Division, Urban Planning Division, and Taxation Division 1.
Kim said, “Since November last year, I visited KEPCO headquarters and the Seoul branch to persuade them, and KEPCO showed a proactive attitude.” The open area owned by KEPCO is 8,626㎡ (2,614 pyeong). Based on the appraisal of nearby publicly auctioned land last year, the estimated appraisal value is about 730 billion KRW.
Yongsan-gu Mayor Park Hee-young and KEPCO Seoul Headquarters Director Jeon Si-sik agreed at the end of February to open this land for public use free of charge. The initial agreement guaranteed opening for three years, with extensions on a yearly basis until the start of the development project. Yongsan-gu agreed to exempt KEPCO from property tax, which is about 500 million KRW annually, during the use period. Several old buildings over 50 years old, which pose a collapse risk, will also be demolished instead.
In exchange for allowing free use of the site, KEPCO benefits from property tax exemption from Yongsan-gu and saves on the comprehensive real estate tax, a national tax, reducing holding and management costs by over 1 billion KRW annually.
Kim said, “This agreement is a grand example of Yongsan-gu and KEPCO contributing to the public good while both institutions gain benefits and efficiently utilize idle resources.” Yongsan-gu plans to start construction of the parking lot in the second half of the year once additional budget is secured and open it to residents and visitors around March next year. The district plans to create a 200-space open parking lot through installation of parking facilities and also aims to develop the area into a ‘walkable street.’
This achievement was possible thanks to the newly established Future Strategy Division in Yongsan-gu last year. Mayor Park Hee-young created a Planning and Coordination Office as a control tower reflecting Yongsan’s characteristics, which include major national projects like Yongsan Park and the redevelopment of the maintenance depot site, and placed the Future Strategy Division within it. The External Strategy Team, Policy Communication Team, and Creative Management Team within this division are responsible for discovering and promoting cooperation projects with external organizations and companies, as well as researching solutions to residents’ long-standing issues, operating like private enterprises.
Thanks to creative idea generation and active collaboration, the valuable land that could have remained unused and neglected for a long time until full-scale development found a meaningful role.
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