After being selected as a pilot complex for remodeling in 2018 and drifting for eight years, the Namsan Town Apartment complex in Jung-gu, Seoul, has opened the way for the project by obtaining approval to establish a cooperative. Of the roughly 5,000 households, remodeling will proceed only for the 3,116 for-sale buildings, excluding rentals.
According to the maintenance industry on the 22nd, the Jung-gu Office of Seoul publicly announced the previous day its approval to establish a cooperative for the remodeling project of the Namsan Town Apartment complex around 844 Sindang-dong. It comes two years after approval to establish a cooperative was rejected in Apr. 2022. The cooperative plans to begin selecting a construction contractor in the second half of this year.
Namsan Town Apartment is the largest SHIFT complex (long-term jeonse dwellings) in Seoul, redeveloped in 2002, with 2,034 rental dwellings out of 5,150 households. Located in a triple-station zone within walking distance of both Apgujeong Station on Seoul Subway Line 3 and Cheonggu Station on Lines 5 and 6, it is considered to have an excellent location.
Earlier, the Seoul city government did not approve the establishment of a cooperative regarding remodeling only the for-sale buildings, citing failure to meet the statutory consent requirements. At the time, the city said, "There was no consent from the public rental apartment buildings within the complex, and as long as they are tied to a single lot, remodeling by building faces clear limits in separating shared facilities, making it administratively difficult to accept."
Because clearing the hurdle to establish a cooperative became impossible, the Jung-gu Office, the district with jurisdiction, drew up a mediation plan. Early this year, the office proposed a "conditional cooperative establishment" plan stipulating that there would be no change in rights for the Seoul city government, the owner of the rental dwellings, and the city allowed it.
Expectations for the maintenance project are being fully reflected in market prices. An 84-square-meter exclusive-use unit in Namsan Town Apartment sold for 1.72 billion won in Feb., setting a record high. Compared with actual transactions of around 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion won early last year, it has risen by about 500 million won. The highest asking price among current listings is 1.9 billion won. Listing descriptions add notes such as "cooperative establishment approval confirmed."
An official at a real estate brokerage in Sindang-dong said, "Namsan Town Apartment allows access to major business districts such as Gangnam and Gwanghwamun within 20 minutes and sits in what people these days call a 'syeo-se-gwon' ('shuttle bus + station area')," adding, "There were significant concerns that the remodeling project would fall through, but reversing that, the project is gaining momentum, and among residents there are high expectations for home price increases. There was even a seller who asked whether to raise the price by several tens of millions of won more."