Apgujeong Riding the Wave of 'Sintong Planning'... Will Reconstruction Accelerate?

Apgujeong Hyundai Apartment. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Apartments in Apgujeong, Gangnam-gu, a barometer for reconstruction in Seoul, are consecutively choosing Seoul City's Rapid Integrated Planning (Shintong Planning) redevelopment method. The total number of households approaches 10,000, making it a large-scale project. With the final selection expected next year, attention is focused on whether the district unit plan, which has been stalled for four years, will gain momentum.

According to the redevelopment industry on the 30th, among the six special planning zones in the Apgujeong Apartment District in Gangnam-gu located along the Han River, five zones except for Zone 6 have applied for or are promoting Shintong Planning. Shintong Planning is a system where the private sector leads the redevelopment project, and Seoul City participates from the planning stage to support project promotion. Pursuing reconstruction through Shintong Planning shortens the usual redevelopment zone designation period from about five years to two to three years.

Initially, Apgujeong apartments showed little interest in participating in the system. However, as prime reconstruction complexes such as the Yeouido pilot apartments consecutively chose Shintong Planning, and with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon encouraging participation, attitudes changed. Apgujeong Zone 3 (Hyundai 1?7th, 10th, 13th, 14th, Daelim Villate), the largest with 4,065 households, first applied for Shintong Planning, followed by Zones 2 and 5, and recently Zone 1 (Miseong 1st and 2nd) also submitted an application. Zone 4 (Hyundai 8th, Hanyang 3rd, 4th, 6th) is expected to submit an application soon.

The heightened interest in Shintong Planning among Apgujeong complexes is partly due to concerns that not participating would result in falling behind in Seoul City's review process, delaying reconstruction further. Currently, reconstruction in the Apgujeong Apartment District is effectively at a standstill. Although Seoul City grouped 24 complexes into six special planning zones in 2016 to prepare a district unit plan for reconstruction, the plan was deferred by the City Urban Architecture Joint Committee in November of the following year and has been stalled for four years.

The district unit plan is a higher-level plan prepared before apartment complexes establish their reconstruction redevelopment plans. While redevelopment plans can be proactively created without it, the district unit plan must ultimately be established for the project to proceed. Creating it prematurely may cause conflicts due to consistency issues.

Seoul City plans to simultaneously proceed with the establishment of redevelopment plans for sites selected as Shintong Planning candidates where the district unit plan has not been established. The already selected Yeouido pilot apartments are also proceeding by concurrently promoting the higher-level district unit plan and Shintong Planning.

The consecutive participation can also be interpreted as an attempt to increase value by conducting reconstruction simultaneously. If reconstruction actually accelerates, about 10,000 households will be reconstructed in the heart of Gangnam, likely causing housing prices to rise further. However, this could stimulate housing prices not only in the area but throughout Seoul, which would inevitably be a burden for Seoul City. Therefore, the possibility of conducting reconstruction staggered by complex cannot be ruled out.

A Seoul City official said, "For reconstruction complexes that have applied for Shintong Planning, unless there are major issues identified in the preliminary review meeting, the plan is to proceed. We plan to hold a preliminary review meeting early next year to decide on the complexes to be promoted," adding, "However, even if promoted, there may be time differences between complexes."

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