The former Seongdong Detention Center site in Songpa District, Seoul, will be transformed into the 5,000-seat "Jamsil Pop City" performance venue. A consortium formed by Hana Bank, comprehensive entertainment corporations TME Group, and WOOMI Construction Co. recently submitted a proposal for the Jamsil Pop City public contest private investment project to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
According to the private investment industry on the 2nd, the consortium of Hana Bank, TME Group, YES24, and WOOMI Construction Co. submitted the initial business plan for the "Jamsil Pop City private investment performance facility project" to the Seoul Metropolitan Government in January. Among the three project sites that Seoul first accepted as planning proposals for its inaugural contest-type private investment project, the "public-private partnership project," in 2024, this is the largest in scale.
The city is proceeding with the project by pre-disclosing the publicly available land in Special Planning Zone 6 (9,506 square meters) of the former Seongdong Detention Center area at 162 Garak-dong, Songpa District, and seeking a suitable operator.
In Feb. last year, the Hana Bank consortium was selected as the excellent proposer in the public-private partnership project contest. The excellent proposer then formed a consortium over about a year, established a detailed business plan, and recently proposed the Jamsil Pop City project with specifics.
The project is set to proceed as a revenue-type private investment project (BTO) of about 200 billion won. Following a private investment eligibility study, a third-party proposal announcement, and an implementation agreement, groundbreaking is targeted for 2028.
The consortium consists of financial investor (FI) Hana Bank; construction investor (CI) WOOMI Construction Co., which will handle building; operating investor (OI) TME Group, which will oversee venue operations and commercial facility merchandising (MD); and YES24.
Jamsil Pop City features a design differentiated from large venues with more than 10,000 seats, such as Inspire on Yeongjongdo in Incheon and Seoul Arena in Chang-dong. The Hana Bank consortium designed it as a 5,000-seat mid-size professional venue, where demand for performances is strongest, to provide an optimal space for discovering and nurturing rookie K-pop stars, as well as for fan meetings and mid-size performances by well-known artists.
TME Group, together with YES24, will have rights for 40 years to distribute tickets and rent the Jamsil Pop City venue, as well as to grant sales permits and make MD decisions for the internal commercial facilities. TME Group has recently been moving aggressively into the performance business in collaboration with Shinsegae. As its first project, it signed an operating contract for Mesa Hall at the Shinsegae main store in Seoul. After a full renovation, TME Group plans to open "XSCALA," a 630-seat premium professional venue equipped with the latest sound and lighting systems, in April.
Hana Bank also plans to practice "productive finance," shifting from a loan-centered approach to investment that directly contributes to the real economy through this project. Hana Financial Group set this year's productive finance supply at 17.8 trillion won, up 1.6 trillion won from the previous year, and is speeding up investment in infrastructure and the cultural industry.