The redevelopment of the former Garibong Market site in Garibong-dong, Guro District, Seoul, which had long sat idle, is being resumed after eight years. With the project plan, delayed by rising construction costs, recently revised, work is expected to begin in earnest on a complex featuring 181 units of public rental housing for young people and at least 186 public parking spaces.
On the 1st, according to the Seoul Housing and Urban Development Corporation (SH) and Guro District, the two bodies recently finalized a revised plan for the Garibong old market site complex project and began a new design process. The revision switches from the previous modular method to reinforced concrete (RC) construction and expands the scale of the integrated public rental housing and the public parking lot.
The modular method assembles factory-built structures on-site. While it can shorten construction time, SH said it decided to switch to conventional reinforced concrete construction in light of recent increases in construction costs and overall project viability.
The project site is the former Garibong Market lot, 3,708.2 square meters around 126-40 Garibong-dong, Guro District. In 1997, as buildings were being demolished for market reconstruction, the project collapsed due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foreign exchange crisis and the contractor's bankruptcy. The site then sat neglected for a long period, with parts used by junk dealers.
Under the plan, 181 units of integrated public rental housing for young adults will be supplied here. The units will mainly be 25 and 31 square meters of exclusive area, with more than 40 units in the 31-square-meter type to be secured.
A public parking lot will also be built to ease parking shortages. The number of parking spaces will be at least 186. A customer support center for Garibong Market merchants, a youth center, a comprehensive childcare support center, and public restrooms will also be added as everyday convenience facilities.
The project is regarded as one of the key initiatives in the Garibong urban regeneration effort. SH envisions creating a mixed-use hub that combines stable housing for young people, local revitalization, and expanded living SOC to bolster the self-sufficiency of the Garibong area. In particular, with maintenance projects such as Moa Town, redevelopment, and the fast-track integrated plan underway in Garibong-dong and Guro 3 and 4-dong, housing demand is expected to grow.
Development of the old Garibong market site was first fleshed out in 2019, but the project was delayed for a long time due to a sharp rise in construction costs. In the process, the integrated public rental housing expanded from 174 to 181 units, and the public parking lot from 174 to 186 spaces.
An SH official said, "After consultations with Guro District, we finalized the revised plan and are currently preparing the design," adding, "Once the design is completed, the follow-up procedures will proceed in sequence."