Hyundai Motor Group's Global Business Complex (GBC) project to construct a consolidated office building on the site of the former Korea Electric Power Corporation headquarters in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, is currently stalled. The Seoul city government and Gangnam district office have ordered the construction of a super tall building with more than 100 floors, while Hyundai Motor Group is trying to negotiate a change in the designs to pursue practicality, but they have not been able to narrow their differences.
According to the business community on the 18th, Hyundai Motor Group announced on the 9th that it would invest 24.3 trillion won in domestic operations this year. This figure represents an increase of more than 19% compared to last year's investment of 20.4 trillion won, making it the largest annual investment to date.
Domestic investments will be divided into ▲ research and development (R&D) investment of 11.5 trillion won, ▲ regular investment of 12 trillion won, and ▲ strategic investment of 800 billion won. The R&D investment will be used for the development of new technologies such as vehicle electrification, software-defined vehicles (SDV), and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The regular investment will be allocated to the transition to electric vehicles and the expansion of production facilities and infrastructure. The strategic investment is also expected to be used to secure competitiveness in key future businesses such as autonomous driving, software (SW), and artificial intelligence (AI).
Hyundai Motor Group also announced investment plans for each affiliate, but the GBC project was not mentioned. The construction sector leading the GBC project decided to focus this year's investments on the demonstration project for hydrogen production through electrolysis, small modular nuclear power plants, renewable energy, and electric vehicle infrastructure development.
In 2014, Hyundai Motor Group invested 10.5 trillion won to purchase the land in Samseong-dong where KEPCO's headquarters was located at the time. The vision of Chung Mong-koo, then chairman leading the group, was to build a super tall building with more than 100 floors to serve as a consolidated office for the affiliates scattered across multiple regions.
However, the atmosphere changed with the appointment of Executive Vice Chairman Euisun Chung. Instead of constructing a super tall building that would take a long time and involve enormous expenses, the plans shifted to building lower-story structures. Euisun Chung wanted to prioritize investments in the development of new technologies such as electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and AI over office construction.
Hyundai Motor Group's decision met with opposition from the Seoul city government and Gangnam district office. The group, which began construction in 2020 and had been carrying out excavation work, announced a revised GBC design plan consisting of two 55-floor buildings last year, but the Seoul city government insisted on maintaining the original plan. The city also referred to the many incentives it provided, such as land use changes and floor area ratio relaxations, based on the premise of constructing a super tall building.
Hyundai Motor Group and the Seoul city government agreed to hold additional negotiations regarding the GBC design changes last July, but they failed to narrow their differences, pushing the discussions into the following year. Some predicted that the appointment of Jang Jae-hoon as the vice chairman of Hyundai Motor last November would strengthen efforts to push the GBC project forward, but such expectations faded when the GBC-focused organization was disbanded a month later.
A Hyundai Motor Group official noted, "As uncertainties have increased with the recent electric vehicle chasm and the inauguration of Donald Trump's second administration in the U.S., the group's investments are increasingly focused on developing new technologies and expanding infrastructure," adding, "there seems to be a reduced interest in the GBC project among the group's leadership."