Affiliates of SK Group are reportedly preparing to withdraw from the upscale office building Grand Seoul located in Jongno District, Seoul, where they have been resident for several years. This decision appears to be in line with the group's ongoing expense reduction policy, opting not to pay high rents.
According to a SK Group official on the 20th, employees belonging to mySUNI, an organization responsible for training within the group, are preparing to move from Grand Seoul to the Susong Square building located in Jongno District, where the headquarters of SK Plant is situated, within the first half of this year. mySUNI is a collective of employees dispatched from various affiliates of SK Group, with about 150 individuals currently working there. It oversees the SK Management and Economic Research Institute, the SK Academy which develops training programs, and SK College.
SK Materials Co., Ltd. has also decided to move from Grand Seoul within this year and is currently searching for a new headquarters location. It is reported that the Seoul office of its subsidiary, SK Specialty, which was decided for sale at the end of last year, is also planning to leave Grand Seoul soon.
Grand Seoul is the building where several affiliates moved in after SK Group remodeled its headquarters located at Seorin-dong in Jongno District in 2018. It is close to the Seorin building with just one road separating them, and has been highly regarded as a modern building completed in 2014. At that time, SK E&S, SK Chemical (now SK Geo Centric), SK Lubricants (now SK Enmove), SK Materials, SK Specialty among others moved to Grand Seoul, which for a time was referred to as 'the second SK headquarters.'
The recent departures of SK affiliates and organizations from Grand Seoul are influenced by the group's ongoing operation improvement (OI) and expense reduction efforts. SK Group is currently undergoing significant restructuring due to a decline in overall performance, excluding some affiliates like SK hynix.
Grand Seoul is one of the 'prime offices' where rental costs are high in downtown Seoul. According to real estate management company Remax Wide Partners, the rental cost per 3.3 square meters (㎡) of Grand Seoul was 142,100 won in 2016, marking the highest in the country. Even now, it is considered one of the most expensive buildings among urban business districts, Yeouido business district, and Gangnam business district.
An official from SK Group noted, 'In addition to the Seorin headquarters, there are several potential locations including Jongno Tower in Seoul, SK Discovery's headquarters in Pangyo, and SK Bioscience's headquarters in Songdo,' adding, 'We expect to achieve significant operational improvements through rental expense reductions.'