The Mammoth Renovation Project in East Ichon-dong Collapses: Yongsan-gu to "Cancel Efforts to Promote Consolidated Project"

[경향신문]

The five apartment complexes in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, that were part of a consolidated renovation project: Hangaram, Gangchon, Ichon Kolon, Hangang Daewoo, Ichon Woosung. Naver Map

Yongsan-gu in Seoul officially canceled the consolidated renovation project of five apartment complexes in Dongbu (East) Ichon-dong: Hangaram, Gangchon, Ichon Kolon, Hangang Daewoo, and Ichon Woosung.

According to the coverage by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on September 6, Yongsan-gu recently concluded that it would be impossible to promote a consolidated renovation project of the five apartment complexes. When they first started discussions, there was a voluntary movement from the residents, but they failed to form a single union to promote the project. An official from the Yongsan-gu office said, “Although it was the campaign pledge by the seventh district chief to be elected by the people, in reality, even forming individual organizations to promote the renovation of each apartment complex was hard. In this situation, we judged that it would be difficult to go ahead with the consolidated renovation project.”

Earlier in January 2018, Yongsan-gu promoted a plan to renovate five apartment complexes in the East Ichon-dong area together. The five complexes were Hangaram, Gangchon, Ichon Kolon, Hangang Daewoo, and Ichon Woosung. A committee to prepare the consolidated renovation project gave a presentation on the project to residents in February that year and began the official process. The consolidated renovation of five apartment complexes was a mammoth project at that time as well and attracted a lot of attention. The Hangaram apartment complex alone, which was completely constructed in September 1998, had 2,036 units, and the five complexes together housed 4,948 units. This was the first attempt in Seoul to renovate apartment complexes all built in different years and by different companies together.

Unlike reconstruction, which involves building new buildings after demolishing existing buildings, renovation or remodeling projects change the area and floor plans of each unit while maintaining the bearing walls. The reason the district considered a consolidated project was because the average floor area ratio of the five complexes exceeded 350%, making reconstruction unfeasible. But since all five complexes were built before the year 2000, they were all more than fifteen years old, making them eligible for a renovation project. In the case of Gangchon--1,001 units built in 1998--the floor area ratio reached 423%. Also the five complexes were subject to strict landscape management regulations according to the Basic Urban Plan of Seoul, because to the north lied the National Museum of Korea, Yongsan Family Park and Namsan Mountain and to the south flowed the Hangang River. For these reasons, authorities deemed reconstruction unlikely and promoted a renovation project as an alternative.

But in the past three years, there was no progress in forming an organization to promote the consolidated renovation project. And when a separate renovation union was formed in Ichon Kolon, Yongsan-gu leaned toward canceling the consolidated project. Some suggest that the district was aiming for reconstruction after the inauguration of Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who has been calling for 100-story apartments along the Hangang River, unlike his predecessor who restricted riverside buildings to 35 stories.

An official from the Yongsan-gu office said, “For the consolidated renovation project, we have to first establish unions in the individual apartment complexes, but residents all have different demands and opinions, so progress has been slow in forming these unions, which in turn led to the cancellation of establishing a consolidated union.” He further said, “Now that the goal of the original plan, which was to create a series of apartment complexes in which the diversity and unity unique to Ichon-dong existed in harmony through the consolidated renovation project, has faded, we decided it would be right to withdraw the pledge.”