Seoul City and Ministry of Land to Fully Launch Public Redevelopment Projects Including Selection of Candidate Sites in January Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 30th that it plans to notify the results of the public redevelopment candidate sites and preliminary consulting for public reconstruction around mid-January next year in cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Public redevelopment is a project type in which the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) or Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) participates as an implementer together with the association. As of the 4th of last month, a total of 70 sites (14 existing districts and 56 new districts) submitted applications for pilot project candidate sites to the respective autonomous districts. The relevant autonomous districts reviewed the status and aging of the 14 existing districts and recommended 13 of them (excluding one designated as an urban regeneration project area) to Seoul City as candidate sites on the 9th.

Seoul City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plan to hold the 'Pilot Project Candidate Site Selection Committee' on January 14 next year to finalize the selection of candidate sites from the 13 existing districts recommended by the autonomous districts. The selection committee will consist of about 15 members, including representatives from Seoul City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Seoul city council members, and experts from various fields such as urban planning, architecture, maintenance projects, and law. The committee plans to select candidate sites by comprehensively considering the urgency of maintenance, the public nature of the project, and the balance among autonomous districts.

Regarding the 56 new districts, the relevant autonomous districts are currently reviewing the appropriateness of project promotion, focusing on redevelopment initiation requirements under the Urban Maintenance Act and exclusion conditions such as urban regeneration projects. The candidate sites are scheduled to be selected by the end of March next year as originally planned.

To block speculative inflows centered on public redevelopment applications and protect the rights and interests of existing association members, Seoul City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on September 21 during the public announcement that "the announcement date may be set as the reference date for calculating the right to purchase." This will be specifically notified when selecting new districts as candidate sites.

Public reconstruction, introduced through the August 4th measures, is a reconstruction method that increases housing supply by relaxing regulations such as floor area ratio and height restrictions, while public institutions like LH or SH participate to manage the project process and recover a certain amount of profit. According to Seoul City, 15 reconstruction complexes have applied for preliminary consulting, showing interest in public reconstruction. The currently operating Public Maintenance Integrated Support Center will notify the project entities such as associations of the analysis results, including project feasibility analysis and preliminary architectural plans for each participating complex, around mid-January next year, and will accept second preliminary consulting applications in February. Seoul City plans to do its best to select leading public reconstruction projects within the first half of next year through cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, including project briefings, in-depth consulting, and resident consent.

Kim Seong-bo, head of the Housing and Architecture Headquarters of Seoul City, said, "Since more districts than expected participated in the public redevelopment project candidate site contest, we plan to carefully select sites that meet the goals of improving residential environments and expanding housing supply through the selection committee." He added, "We will also strive to ensure smooth progress of public reconstruction projects by supporting prompt decision-making by associations and improving related regulations and systems."

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