Final District Approval Puts Gajaeul New Town on Track for 12,000 Homes

District 7, the last of the nine districts in the Gajaeul New Town project to advance, received its project implementation approval in June and is now moving through the remaining steps.

District 7 will be built on a roughly 79,000-square-meter site around 80 Bukgajwa-dong in Seoul's Seodaemun-gu, with a maximum height of 40 stories across 13 buildings and 1,435 units, including 199 public housing units, according to the redevelopment industry on the 17th. The district was designated as a redevelopment promotion zone in 2012 but sat idle for more than a decade amid internal disputes within the redevelopment association. Even after winning association approval in 2022, it made little progress, and officials at one point had to consider extending the zone designation. Momentum returned last September when a revised redevelopment plan was passed. After clearing Seoul's integrated review conditionally last December and obtaining the project implementation approval this June, the only steps left are the management and disposal plan approval in 2027, groundbreaking in 2028 and completion in 2031. A neighborhood park containing the Hwasan-gun Yi Yeon memorial stele, a cultural heritage site, along with a water play area, will sit at the center of the complex.

Once District 7 is complete, Gajaeul New Town will be finished as a town of some 12,000 homes. The town's history dates back to 2003. As the area around Moraenae Market had fallen into disrepair and raised safety concerns, the Seoul city government designated the area as a new town in line with the opening of the Gyeongui Line. Work picked up from 2005, with the first residents moving in by 2009. The 4,300-home DMC Park View Xi followed in 2015, then DMC Raemian e-Pyeonhan Sesang and DMC Eco Xi in succession. The aging low-rise residential area had transformed into an orderly planned city.

The change is palpable on foot. Apartment complexes line up around a central neighborhood park, where cherry blossoms bloom in spring and greenery thickens in summer. Even though these are apartments inside the old city walls, they give the illusion of walking along the foothills of a mountain. With the Bulgwangcheon and Hongjecheon streams flowing on either side of the new town, nearby parks draw a steady stream of families on weekend outings. Because the large complexes are home to many children of similar ages, local online communities repeatedly echo the sentiment that "there is no better neighborhood in Seoul for raising children."

On education, Gajaeul High School, which opened in 2013, anchors the area, with Gajaeul Elementary and Gajaeul Middle School located within the complexes and within walking distance. Gajaeul Middle School's academic achievement scores run above the Seoul average, making it a reliable school zone in Seodaemun-gu. There are no private elementary schools within the new town, however. Across all of Seodaemun-gu there are only four: Kyunggi Elementary in Chungjeongno 2-ga, Myongji Elementary in Hongeun-dong, Ewha Womans University Elementary in Daesin-dong and Choogye Elementary in Bukahyeon-dong, all located in the Sinchon, Chungjeongno and Hongeun-dong areas and thus far from Gajaeul New Town. As a result, families with private elementary schools in mind often broaden their options on the assumption of a shuttle-bus commute. Instead, the neatly developed residential land, ample daycare centers and kindergartens, and retail infrastructure fill the gap left by the school zone.

The transportation backbone is Gajwa Station on the Gyeongui-Jungang Line. Ridership began to rise after the Yongsan Line section opened in 2012, turning it into a transfer station for the Seoul Station and Gongdeok Station directions, and by 2015 it had overtaken the boarding and alighting numbers at Seoul Station on the Gyeongui Line. Since 2022, express trains have stopped at Gajwa Station eight times a day during weekday rush hours.

Access to the city center has long been the area's strength. Toward Jongno and Gwanghwamun, residents can catch a downtown-bound bus directly from the median bus lane at Gajwa Station, and by taking the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and transferring toward Gongdeok Station or Sinchon, they can reach the downtown area in around 30 minutes. In fact, many dual-income couples with jobs in Jongno, Gwanghwamun or Mapo live here, and earned-income levels in the area are said to be fairly high.

Yeouido is also relatively close. Residents can take the Gyeongui-Jungang Line to Gongdeok Station and transfer to Line 5 to reach Yeouido without difficulty, and some of the bus routes passing through the Gajwa Station stop run toward Yeouido and Yeongdeungpo, so a considerable number of commuters can get to work without a transfer.

Access to the Gangnam area has been cited as a relative weakness, but improvement has become clear recently. Using Gajwa Station or the nearby Digital Media City Station, the travel time to the Gangnam area has narrowed to within an hour, according to local assessments. If the Sin-Bundang Line is extended to Yongsan Station in the future, major parts of Gangnam could be reached with just a single transfer, further shortening travel times, some expect. On top of that, the Seobu Line and Gangbuk Crosstown Line, Seoul light rail lines currently under development, are set to pass through Gajaeul New Town, which is expected to bring a structural improvement in access south of the Han River, a relative shortcoming until now.

These living conditions are reflected in market prices. In the flagship DMC Park View Xi Complex 1, an 84-square-meter unit traded at 1.695 billion won as of June this year. At the near-new DMC Eco Xi, a 59-square-meter unit traded at 1.31 billion won as of May this year, showing solid demand for smaller unit types as well.

In the real estate industry, analysts say the investment value of Gajaeul New Town is drawing greater attention, as the completion of the new town has come into view with District 7, the final district, securing its project implementation approval, combined with its location as a residential area serving the Sangam DMC and transportation boosts such as the Seobu Line and Gangbuk Crosstown Line.