Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) said on the 26th that it opened the "Jwawon Shopping Center relocation support center," the first public maintenance site, inside the Seodaemun-gu youth startup center and will begin full-scale support for relocation.
Jwawon Shopping Center, located in Gajaeul New Town (Gajwa Station station area), is Korea's first mixed-use residential-commercial building, approved for use in 1966. Jwawon Shopping Center received an E safety rating in 2020 and was ordered by Seodaemun-gu to stop use and to relocate (evacuate). However, some residents still live there, leaving them exposed to a serious disaster risk.
To swiftly support resident relocation, LH formed a "task force (TF) for expedited action on buildings with safety concerns" with the district office and resident representatives starting in Sep., and prepared measures to promote relocation, including emergency housing support. On the 17th and 18th, it also operated a "relocation promotion booth for buildings with safety concerns" on-site at Jwawon Shopping Center and held one-on-one tailored consultations with about 50 residents.
Under the emergency housing support system, if the district office selects residents facing a crisis under the Emergency Welfare Support Act, LH immediately provides a purchased rental or jeonse rental home from its stock.
Through a public-participation redevelopment project, Jwawon Shopping Center is slated to be built into a complex building combining apartments, officetels, retail, and sports facilities. LH plans to expedite relocation and project procedures with the goal of obtaining project implementation approval and starting demolition in 2026.
On the day, LH signed separate joint project implementation agreements with KyeRyong Construction Industrial Co. (the Jwawon Shopping Center contractor) and Namkwang Engineering & Construction Co. (the Youngjin Market contractor) to expedite maintenance of buildings at safety risk and to secure resident safety.
Park Hyeon-geun, head of LH's special headquarters for metropolitan area maintenance projects, said, "We will put all our capabilities into ensuring that relocation proceeds without a hitch to secure resident safety, and we will do our best so that the Jwawon Shopping Center and Youngjin Market redevelopment projects become successful cases of improving E-rated buildings at risk."