50% Rent Reduction for Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center

Seongdong-gu Confirms 50% Rent Reduction for Tenants of District-Owned Property 'Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center'... Total 31 Businesses Receive 6-Month Reduction from February to July, Prepaid Rent to Be Refunded

Children's Art Museum 'Hello Museum' located in Seongdong Anshim Shopping Mall building

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) will reduce the rent by 50% for six months for 31 tenant businesses in the district-owned property ‘Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center.’

‘Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center’ is the nation’s first public safety shopping center symbolizing the anti-gentrification policy. It is a shopping center where tenants, small business owners, and young entrepreneurs who are pushed out by rising rents can operate comfortably, as Seongdong-gu leases the properties at 50-70% of the surrounding market price for a long term of 5 to 10 years.

In March, as the economic difficulties of small business owners due to COVID-19 intensified, the district promoted the ‘Good Rent Campaign’ encouraging voluntary rent reductions. It deferred rent payments until the end of August for 12 neighborhood living facility businesses in the district-owned Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center and waived the basic management fees for all tenant businesses for six months.

However, as the COVID-19 situation prolonged and the scale of damage expanded, the district took decisive action to reduce rent by 50%. This became possible following the amendment of the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Management of Public Property and Goods’ at the end of March and was decided after review by the Seongdong-gu Public Property Deliberation Committee on the 12th of this month.

The rent reduction applies to 31 small business tenants in the Seongdong Anshim Shopping Center Building and stores 1 through 7, who suffered damage due to COVID-19. The reduction period covers six months from February to July, when COVID-19 occurred.

For those who have already prepaid rent for 2020, the reduced amount will be refunded between May and June.

Kim Isaak, director of Hello Museum, a tenant business, said, “The extended closure period made operations very difficult, but I am glad that the district office is reducing rent, allowing us to operate without reducing existing staff.”

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, “I hope this rent reduction will help small business owners facing management crises due to COVID-19. We will do our best to prepare various support measures for struggling small business owners and to recover the local economy.”

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