The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 26th that it will begin full-fledged preliminary negotiations with Shinsegae Central Co. and Seoul Express Bus Terminal Co. over a mixed-use development of the Seoul Express Bus Terminal site in Seocho District.
The Seoul Express Bus Terminal began in the 1970s as a national flagship transportation hub that opened the era of "breakfast in Seoul, lunch in Busan" with the opening of the Gyeongbu Expressway, changing Korea's concept of time and space. In the 2000s, through the Central City mixed-use development, it added office, lodging, retail, and cultural functions, leading Gangnam's daily life, consumption, and culture.
However, the aging buildings of nearly 50 years and the parking areas that occupy more than half of the site have caused broken pedestrian connections and urban blight, and residents have complained of traffic congestion and air pollution and noise from express buses entering and exiting.
The plan is to integrate the aging Gyeongbu, Yeongdong, and Honam express bus terminals underground and modernize them. Above ground, it will be created as a global future convergence exchange hub through a three-dimensional mixed-use development combining office, retail, lodging, culture, and housing.
It also includes building a "future mobility platform" linking the airport, the Han River, and the rest of the country; creating a "global new-growth hub" where global corporations and future innovation industries meet; and establishing a "green culture hub" that connects Seoul's leading green and cultural axes. It also includes building pedestrian infrastructure such as a three-dimensional pedestrian bridge linked to the Han River to strengthen access to the river. The maximum height is expected to be more than 60 stories above ground.
Lim Chang-su, head of future space planning for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "The three-dimensional mixed-use development of the Seoul Express Bus Terminal will be a turning point in Seoul's urban-space paradigm that goes beyond simple reconstruction to efficiently adding three-dimensional layers to limited downtown space," and added, "It will serve as a global core hub consolidation the international exchange complex district, the Gangnam business district (GBD), Yeouido (YBD), and the Yongsan international business district."