Gongjak Apartments in Yeouido, completed in 1976, is small in scale but widely seen as a prime candidate for rebuilding. The complex sits directly next to Yeouinaru Station on Seoul subway Line 5, with The Hyundai Seoul and IFC Mall nearby. It cleared one of the final hurdles in the process on the 16th, winning approval for its project implementation plan. Daewoo Engineering & Construction (047040) will handle construction, rebuilding the existing 373 units into 585 units in a tower rising up to 49 floors.
Kim Chul-hoon, head of the steering committee for the Gongjak Apartments rebuilding project, described the direction of the project in a single word — rest — in an interview with Seoul Economic Daily on the 26th. "I want to build an apartment complex that feels like someone embraces you when you come home in the evening," Kim said. "We will work with the builder so that Gongjak has its own character among the rows of high-rise buildings in Yeouido's financial district."
Kim compared Yeouido to Manhattan, pointing to the Han River park, the financial and commercial district, and cultural facilities such as the planned second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the Pompidou outpost, and said he intends to make the most of the complex's setting among skyscrapers. "There is a pleasure that comes from diversity," Kim said. "I hope the rebuilt complexes in Yeouido each take on a different form."
The starting point for the project's premium positioning is residents' daily life rather than a list of amenities. Couples in their 40s and 50s who work full time, along with their children, should be able to rest properly at home, he said. "We thought about it backward — who will live here, and what do they need," Kim said. "The idea is not to simply bolt on luxury options."
The dedicated sky lounges planned for each building are Kim's idea. They are designed as spaces where residents can have tea with guests or step out for fresh air in a small garden. A fitness center, shower facilities and a golf practice range are under review as standard features, and breakfast service and after-school academies are also being considered. The committee plans to commission outside consultants to analyze how other complexes operate such facilities and what residents actually use, then design community amenities suited to Gongjak.
The project is being carried out through a trust company, but Kim handles communication with owners himself. Over four months he convened six meetings with the trust firm and the builder. He has appointed owners with expertise in architecture and interior design as responsible committee members and works with a construction management firm. In roughly a year since taking office, he has published 17 newsletters to share the project's progress with association members.
The committee is negotiating what Kim calls a "new standard" with Daewoo Engineering & Construction to reduce disputes over construction costs. The idea is to move up the cost verification normally done just before groundbreaking and settle the figures in advance. "We agreed to verify costs in advance as we improve the product and change the floor plans," Kim said. "Even if construction costs rise, we agreed to apply whichever is lower — the consumer inflation rate or the rate of increase in construction costs — on top of the 10.7 million won per 3.3 square meters already proposed." Kim said the association would pay for anything it additionally requested, while stressing that both sides must be able to explain to owners that the existing cost figure was calculated in good faith.
Gongjak Apartments plans to complete its property appraisal by the end of next month, take applications from owners between mid-December and mid-January, and then obtain approval for its management and disposal plan. Relocation is set to begin in the fourth quarter of next year, with groundbreaking in the fourth quarter of 2028 and move-in targeted for the fourth quarter of 2033. The schedule has been moved up by about a year from the original plan of breaking ground in 2029 and move-in in 2034. "The apartment each owner has put into this project is virtually their entire fortune," Kim said. "I will run this project thinking of it not as just a vote, but as the lives of our association members."