Seoul city on the 26th responded to a civic group's claim that public returns from profits generated by the Sewoon district development should be expanded, saying it is "creating the largest green ecological forest in the downtown with private resources to recreate citizens' lives."
The city issued a briefing the same day, saying, "The Sewoon district development is a project to demolish the old and dangerous concrete shopping arcades that blocked the flow of the downtown for 60 years and return the area to citizens," and stated accordingly.
According to the city, the green ecological forest to be created after the demolition of Sewoon Shopping Center will cover 136,000㎡ (about 41,140 pyeong). This is three times the size of Gwanghwamun Square and 1.5 times the area of Deoksu Palace.
The city said, "It is not a simple grass plaza but the creation of a lush forest, soil, and a three-dimensional green ecological space in the heart of downtown," adding, "It will be able to provide an overwhelming sense of openness and a pleasant walking environment as if citizens are strolling through a forest."
The city emphasized that this forest creation will be achieved through private public contributions. It said it will be built not with taxes paid by citizens, but by recouping private public contributions secured during the redevelopment process.
The city explained, "In the case of Sewoon District 4, the burden ratio for infrastructure was raised from the existing 3% to 16.5%, and the scale of public contribution recovery was expanded from about 18.4 billion won to about 216.4 billion won," adding, "It is a structure that returns the value created by development to a citizens' forest and infrastructure."
In addition, the city refuted the civic group's claims of "super high-rise development" and "a 551.6 billion won increase in development profits."
The city said, "Under the Enforcement Decree of the Building Act, a super high-rise building is 50 stories or higher, or 200 meters or higher, but Sewoon District 4 is 19 to a maximum of 38 stories, with heights from 98.7 meters to 141.9 meters," adding that there are already many buildings within Seoul's main gate that are taller or of heritage scale.
The city also said, "The claim of a 551.6 billion won increase in development profits is a calculation error that treats even the previous asset value, which is the existing property value already held by land and other owners, as if it were net profit," adding, "As a result of the city's review, the actual net profit after development was estimated at about 11.2 billion won."
Earlier, the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) held a press conference on the 25th and claimed that through the redevelopment project of Sewoon District 4 in front of Jongmyo, "development profits will increase by about 550 billion won." It also said, "Immediately halt super high-rise, ultra-high-density development and review from scratch."