A project to build a 2,100-household multifamily housing complex is being pushed on the Sungkyunkwan University baseball field site in Dobong-dong, Dobong District, Seoul. Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) will serve as the developer, and three major builders, including Hyundai Engineering & Construction, will form a consortium to take part in construction. As a large idle site in northern Seoul is developed into a residential complex, changes are expected in the Dobong-area housing market.
According to the construction industry on the 29th, LH the previous day selected the Hyundai Engineering & Construction consortium as the preferred bidder for the private-participation public dwellings construction project (private-participation project) on the Sungkyunkwan University baseball field site. The consortium includes Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Jungheung Construction, and Taeyoung E&C. An LH official said, "We are at the preferred bidder selection stage, so detailed negotiations will proceed until the final construction contract is signed."
In this project, LH will handle public institutional sector tasks such as land acquisition and permits, while the private builder will take charge of financing, design, construction, and sales under a private-participation public dwellings model. Once sales are completed, LH and the private builder will split the revenue according to the equity ratio set at the time of contract.
The project site is land owned by Sungkyunkwan University, located east of Dobong Station on Seoul Subway Line 1. The area exceeds 48,000 square meters. It was once used as the athletes' village for Sungkyunkwan University's College of Sports Science, but after the athletes' village transferred to Suwon, Gyeonggi, it was left idle for a long period. Development options for the site were first discussed in 2009, and dwellings supply was reviewed in 2017 during the Moon Jae-in administration, but it did not lead to actual commercialization.
Sungkyunkwan University recently resolved through its board of directors to sell the site to LH as land for dwellings supply and also received approval from the Ministry of Education. A Sungkyunkwan University official said, "We passed the board resolution and received approval from the Ministry of Education, and we are proceeding with procedures for the sale with LH."
However, negotiations over the sale price remain a variable. Sungkyunkwan University and LH are currently negotiating the price. If the gap between the two sides is large, the project schedule could be delayed. As of January, the publicly disclosed land price of the site was 111 billion won. The industry believes the actual value could be assessed higher, considering the location near Dobong Station and future transportation development benefits.
The total supply scale of this project is 2,100 households. Of these, 1,709 households are public presales, and 391 households are integrated public rentals. The public presale volume consists of 1,242 households with exclusive areas of 60 square meters or less, and 467 households of 60–85 square meters. The integrated public rentals will be supplied as dwellings with exclusive areas of 60 square meters or less. The total project cost is estimated at about 590.8 billion won.
If construction by the Hyundai Engineering & Construction consortium is finalized, the complex is expected to carry Hyundai Engineering & Construction's apartment brand, "Hillstate." Previously, in September last year, the government announced through the "9·7 supply measures" that it would supply around 1,800 dwellings on this site, but the current plan increases the supply by about 300 households.
The Dobong Station area is considered a part of Seoul where new apartment supply is rare. Even Dobong Hanshin Apartment, one of the large nearby complexes supplied relatively recently, was completed in 1995. As there has been no large-scale new apartment supply for nearly 30 years, some analysts say this project could serve as a catalyst for improving the local residential environment and reassessing prices.
Kim Hak-ryeol, head of Smart Tube Real Estate Research Institute, said, "The Dobong area has had almost no new supply, so it is currently evaluated lower than Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi," and added, "If large new apartment supply gets underway in earnest, the residential value of this area could be reassessed."