The remodeling project for Ichon Useong Apartment in Dongbu Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, has been halted. At a recent general meeting of the association, the share of opinions saying the remodeling project should stop exceeded those saying it should continue.
According to the maintenance industry on the 27th, the Ichon Useong remodeling association held a general meeting on the 15th and put forward nine agenda items, including the "matter on whether to continue the project," as well as association executives and budget plans for operating and project costs.
The reason the association is collecting opinions from members on whether it should continue the project is under the Housing Act (Article 14-2, Paragraph 1). If project plan approval is not obtained within three years after establishing the association, a general meeting must be held to ask members whether to continue the remodeling project.
On the day, for agenda item No. 4, the matter of whether to continue the remodeling project, 47 of the 107 members present voted in favor and 60 voted against. The Ichon Useong Apartment remodeling association has begun the process of dissolution three years after its establishment.
Completed in 1995 and marking its 30th year this year, Ichon Useong Apartment is a complex with two basement levels to 20 above-ground floors, two buildings, and 243 households, located at 399-1 Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
The Ichon Useong remodeling association had been pushing a project to add 29 households to rebuild the complex into a new apartment with a total of 272 households. Because the complex's floor area ratio is relatively high at 322%, securing business viability through reconstruction was difficult, so remodeling was deemed virtually the only way to renew it as a new apartment. In Apr. 2023, SK ecoplant was also selected as the builder.
However, construction costs have surged in recent years, undermining the profitability of remodeling, and opinions have reportedly spread within the association that the apartments would be of lower quality than reconstruction in aspects such as layouts, community facilities, and ceiling heights.
One member of the Ichon Useong Apartment association said, "If we remodel, the floor plan extends backward in a long shape and we cannot raise ceiling heights," adding, "Compared with reconstruction, there is also a lack of spare space, which limits the creation of community facilities and green areas."
The member added, "In the meantime, prices of materials needed for construction have risen significantly, so there is no reason to insist on remodeling, which would require members to pay contributions similar to reconstruction," and noted, "As the upgrade of the zoning district (quasi-residential district) has become possible under the '2030 basic plan for urban housing and environment maintenance' released by the Seoul city government last year, the view that we should instead pivot to reconstruction to secure both business viability and quality is gaining traction."