The public redevelopment underway in the original downtown areas of Sujeong-gu and Jungwon-gu in Seongnam is not making progress due to conflicts over pricing from the early stages of the project. Some members of the consortium have gone on hunger strikes, criticizing Seongnam City and the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).
According to the maintenance industry and others on the 13th, Sujin District 1, one of the core maintenance areas in the original downtown of Sujeong-gu, Seongnam, was designated as the project implementer by LH in January 2021, and the residents' representative committee was formed in March of the same year. Subsequently, in October 2022, a consortium led by Daewoo E&C was selected as the construction company, and the project implementation approval was received in December of last year.
However, members of the consortium are recently protesting, claiming that the selling prices have been set too high. The estimated selling prices for consortium members are approximately 798.96 million won based on a 59㎡ exclusive area and 985.15 million won based on 84㎡. They protested, stating that considering the previous asset values, the additional contributions would be in the range of 300 million to 500 million won.
A member of the Sujin District 1 consortium noted, "Currently, it is just an estimate, so there is a mood to wait and see until the exact selling price is set after accepting applications for sales," and added, "The consortium has already protested to LH and is seeking solutions in various ways, such as lowering the rental ratio. It is premature to discuss just the selling price at this time."
The Shinheung District 1 has suffered setbacks in project viability due to military height restrictions. Shinheung District 1 is located in Seongnam's Sujeong-gu, at 4900 Shinheung-dong, where Seongnam designated LH as the project implementer in 2021, and approved the formation of the residents' representative committee in August of the same year. In November of the following year, a consortium including GS Engineering and Construction, DL E&C, and KOLON GLOBAL joined as the contractor. Subsequently, in May of last year, LH and others applied to the city for project implementation plan approval to construct residential apartments with a maximum height of 15 stories and 4,135 households.
In this situation, there has been conflict with the residents' representative committee as the Air Force argued that the criteria for limiting building heights should be applied more stringently. Seongnam is subject to height restrictions due to the presence of Seoul Airport, which means the entire city is governed by military base and facility protection laws. Redevelopment and reconstruction projects being promoted in Seongnam must go through consultations with the Air Force.
When applying the criteria, LH and others set the number of floors based on an average land height of 45 meters across the entire area, but the Air Force interpreted that the number of floors should be set based on the lowest land where buildings would be located in Shinheung District 1, which is on a slope.
According to the residents' representative committee, if this criterion is applied, some buildings will have to be reduced from 15 stories to 13 stories. Additionally, the number of housing units will decrease by about 200, raising concerns about diminished project viability and increased contributions.
In light of these circumstances, Yu Hyun-soo, chairperson of the Shinheung District 1 redevelopment residents' representative committee, along with residents, conducted a hunger strike in front of Seongnam City Hall from the 21st to the 25th of last month. The chairperson stated, "We ask that excessive interpretations of the legal rights not be made. The Air Force said they would contact us in about two weeks, and we withdrew the hunger strike, but there has been no contact yet."
An LH official said, "We sent an official document to the Air Force. It seems that the Air Force is taking time for internal reviews, and for now, we are waiting for an official response."
Experts explained that if conflicts in these areas are not resolved, it could impact other public redevelopment projects in Seongnam's original downtown. Koh Jun-seok, a professor at Yonsei University's Sangnam Business School, stated, "In the case of public redevelopment, one of the advantages is to apply the floor area ratio more flexibly to reduce the construction cost burden on consortium members for quick progress, but if conflicts arise like this from the beginning, it could rather stagnate the project. This could lower public trust and negatively impact other redevelopment sites in the original downtown."