Seoul City Plans to Build Youth Rental Housing on Prime Land at Hannam Neighborhood Park

Criticism of Plans Ignoring Surrounding Conditions Near Luxury Residential Areas Like Hannam The Hill

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is considering developing Hannam Neighborhood Park in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, which is at risk of disappearing due to the urban park sunset policy, into youth rental housing. However, since the site is near luxury residential areas such as Hannam The Hill and Nine One Hannam, there are criticisms that the development plan is not suitable for the surrounding conditions.

According to the industry on the 19th, at the recently held 'Hannam and Gurobon Neighborhood Park Sunset Response Meeting,' the Seoul Metropolitan Government instructed the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) to review the plan to develop Hannam Neighborhood Park in the 677-1 area of Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, into youth rental housing.

Hannam Neighborhood Park covers a total area of 28,197㎡. It was first designated as a park by the Governor-General of Korea in 1940 and re-designated as a neighborhood park by the Ministry of Construction (now the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) in 1977, marking its 80th year this year. It had been used as a U.S. military housing site but has been neglected since the U.S. military relocated in 2015. Due to the implementation of Seoul's urban park sunset policy, the park is scheduled to be deregulated as an urban park in July.

The reason Seoul is reviewing the youth rental housing development plan for Hannam Neighborhood Park is that Yongsan-gu, the local autonomous district, is reluctant to purchase the park land due to the enormous cost burden. According to Yongsan-gu, the land compensation cost for Hannam Neighborhood Park, currently owned by Booyoung, is 340 billion KRW. Even applying the Seoul Metropolitan Government's '50-50' rule for district-managed parks, Yongsan-gu would have to bear 170 billion KRW. This amount corresponds to one-third of Yongsan-gu's annual budget (510 billion KRW). Earlier this year, Seoul sent an official letter to Yongsan-gu to proceed with the implementation plan approval for Hannam Neighborhood Park, but Yongsan-gu has not yet carried out the related procedures. Once the implementation plan approval is enforced, the landowner cannot develop the park for up to seven years, and the local government can proceed with compulsory purchase (land expropriation). If Yongsan-gu does not conduct a public inspection within this month, the administrative procedure will make it impossible to approve the implementation plan for Hannam Neighborhood Park.

However, there are criticisms that the site is not suitable as a target for youth rental housing. This is because it is located near luxury residential areas such as 'Hannam The Hill,' the most expensive apartment in the country, and 'Nine One Hannam,' where the average rental deposit reaches 45 million KRW per 3.3㎡. Considering the land price, the rent would inevitably be set high, which contradicts the policy purpose of youth rental housing aimed at residential welfare. Regarding this, a Seoul city official said, "Developing youth rental housing is one of the ways to utilize Hannam Neighborhood Park. We are currently considering various methods, including the park deregulation and linkage with the Hannam district unit plan," adding, "Nothing has been finalized yet."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.