The Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH) is restarting a mixed-use development on the site of the former Garibong market, a project that had been suspended by rising construction costs. The agency plans to break ground in the second half of next year after switching part of the design from modular construction to reinforced concrete.
SH said on the 27th that it had completed the selection of a contractor for the project's design work and would sign the contract on the 28th to begin design.
The project will build a public parking facility, community amenities and public housing together on a 3,827-square-meter site owned by Guro District. It won approval of its housing construction plan in December 2023, but ran into trouble as construction costs climbed sharply afterward.
SH had pursued the project as a public housing development with private-sector participation, but terminated its agreement with the private partner in March last year, in part because of the cost increases. The start of the design work is a step toward reviving the project, which had been on hold since the agreement was scrapped.
In response to the changed conditions, SH is moving to replace the partial modular construction proposed by the former private partner with reinforced concrete. The agency aims to complete the related permit procedures this year and begin main construction in the second half of next year.
"The Garibong former market site project will improve parking for shoppers at the traditional market and supply community facilities and public housing that the area needs," SH President Hwang Sang-ha said. "We will work with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Guro District to carry out the design and permit procedures without delay."
