The Baekhyeon MICE development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, with a total project cost of 6.2 trillion won, received approval for its implementation plan roughly five years after the development zone was designated. It means the project can break ground after receiving final approval from the local government. The decision on whether to add the tentative "Baekhyeon MICE Station" on the Shinbundang Line is also expected in February, and apartment prices in Bundang are stirring as favorable news adds to the first-phase new town reconstruction.
Seongnam City on the 30th announced approval and notice of the implementation plan for the Baekhyeon MICE urban development project. The Baekhyeon MICE urban development project will build an exhibition and convention center, a mixed-use office complex, and tourism, leisure and lodging facilities on a 206,350-square-meter site in Jeongja-dong 1, Bundang District. The site is 206,350 square meters, or 1.4 times the size of COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, and 2.5 times that of the Magok MICE site in Seoul. It is about 1 kilometer from Pangyo Techno Valley, which houses more than 1,800 companies, and sits on prime land in Bundang. Construction is set to begin in the second half of the year. The scheduled completion date is Oct. 2030.
Previously, Seongnam City designated the area as an urban development zone in Dec. 2020, but the project stalled for a long time amid allegations of preferential treatment tied to the "Daejang-dong development." After Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin took office in July 2022, the city changed the project structure so that the private sector would take only the confirmed development gains, while Seongnam City would recoup excess profits. A consortium was formed, and an application for implementation plan approval was filed in Dec. 2023, resulting in final approval roughly two years later. Seongnam City expects the project to generate 5.151 trillion won in production, 3.7366 trillion won in value-added, and 35,223 jobs.
Seongnam City is also pursuing the addition of Baekhyeon MICE Station. A preliminary feasibility study is under way on installing a new station between Pangyo Station and Jeongja Station on the Shinbundang Line, with results to be announced in February. An official at a real estate agency in Jeongja-dong, Bundang, said, "If a complex larger than COEX goes in, traffic congestion will be unavoidable," and added, "Expanding transportation infrastructure is only natural, so not only Baekhyeon MICE Station but also the addition of Seongnam Urban Railway Lines 1 and 2 is worth expecting."
Redevelopment is also picking up speed. Seongnam City said on the 20th it designated and announced six zones within the leading districts of the old planned city in Bundang as "special maintenance zones," moving into full-scale implementation. The designated and announced zones are the Sibeom complex (6,049 households), Saetbyeol Village (5,050 households), and Mongnyeon Village (2,475 households). Yangji Village (6,839 households) was designated and announced as a special maintenance zone on the 27th.
Amid a string of favorable developments, the sales price per 3.3 square meters (one pyeong) of apartments in Bundang District has topped 1 billion won, setting new record highs. According to the actual transaction price disclosure system of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), on Dec. 16 last year, a 58.71-square-meter unit in Neuti Village Complex 3 in Jeongja-dong changed hands for 2 billion won. The per-pyeong price is about 112 million won. A 48.51-square-meter unit in Yangji Village Complex 5 in Sunae-dong set a new record at 1.54 billion won on the 22nd, with a per-pyeong price around 105 million won.