16 years in limbo, Sewoon District park finally becoming a reality

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16 years in limbo, Sewoon District park finally becoming a reality

Published: 18 Jul. 2025, 13:29

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A rendering shows the park that Seoul plans to build next year after demolishing the Sampung Shopping Center. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

After years of false starts and stalled plans, Seoul is finally moving forward with its long-delayed Sewoon District park project, breaking ground in the first half of next year and launching a sweeping urban renewal that has been stuck in limbo for 16 years.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Thursday that it had finalized the first-phase implementation plan for the “Sewoon District Urban Park Project.” Central to the plan is the demolition of the aging Sampung Shopping Center — one of seven interconnected commercial buildings between Sewoon Shopping Center and Jinyang Shopping Center — to transform 5,670 square meters (61,031 square feet) of land into a public green space.

Compensation procedures will begin immediately, with demolition and construction slated to kick off early next year. The city says it will first install a temporary park with lawns, gardens, and benches for residents to enjoy while broader redevelopment efforts are underway.

“This is a preliminary step to integrating the area into a full-scale urban park once we extend the green space to include the Hotel PJ site,” a Seoul city official said.

Hotel PJ, which is part of the second phase of the project, is being integrated into a joint redevelopment space with Zone 6-1-3 of the nearby Sewoon Redevelopment Promotion District.

Unlike the Sampung Shopping Center, which the city plans to purchase using public funds, the Hotel PJ site will be turned into parkland through a land donation agreement.

In exchange for rezoning Zone 6-1-3 from a general commercial area to a central commercial area, the redevelopment association will donate the Hotel PJ site to the city.

Hotel PJ will retain a partial stake in the Zone 6-1-3 development and operate the new hotel that will be built on-site.

The zone will be redeveloped as a high-density, mixed-use area with a floor area ratio of 1,550 percent. The plan includes two towers ranging from 47 to 54 stories that will house hotel, commercial and residential facilities.

A master plan rendering of the entire Sewoon District development project [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

As part of the first phase, the city will also remove the elevated pedestrian walkway connecting Sampung Shopping Center to Hotel PJ.

It eventually plans to remove the rest of the elevated structure in phases, linking those efforts to the broader Sewoon green space project.

The steel-frame walkway, which cost 110.9 billion won ($79.7 million), opened in July 2022.

It spans seven commercial buildings and was introduced in March 2016 under then-Mayor Park Won-soon as part of broader urban regeneration efforts to preserve the surrounding neighborhood.

The Sewoon project is a key pillar of Seoul’s “Green Ecological City Strategy,” first announced in 2022. The city plans to ultimately demolish the entire Sewoon complex and replace it with roughly 50,000 square meters of green space, creating a continuous greenbelt from Mount Bugak to Jongmyo and Namsan.

Seoul finalized a revision to its Sewoon redevelopment plan in June last year, allowing it to gradually secure up to 136,000 square meters of green space through the park conversion and adjacent redevelopment.

“This is a historic project that will enhance the competitiveness of central Seoul,” said Cho Nam-joon, chief of the City Planning Division under the city government's Planning and Administration Office. “We will do everything we can to ensure that residents can take pride in this transformation."

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HAN EUN-HWA [[email protected]]