A project to create a park in the Sewoon shopping district in Jongno-gu, Seoul, will begin in earnest in the first half of next year.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on July 17that it has notified the implementation plan for the “Sewoon District Urban Park Phase 1” project. As the last administrative procedure to turn about 5,670 square meters of Sampoong Shopping Center around Sewoon ShoppingDistrict into a park, the city plans to finalize the compensation process and start construction before the first half of next year. Seoul hopes that the park will mark the first step in the creation of the “North-South Green Axis,” a project that has been suspended after the demolition of the Hyundai Shopping Center in front of Jongmyo Shrine in 2009.

Sewoon Shopping District is the first residential-commercial apartment complex in Korea, built in 1967, and its shopping centers and buildings include Sewoon Electronics Shopping District, Daelim Shopping District, Cheonggye Shopping District, Sampung Nexus Building, PJ Hotel, Inhyun Shopping District, and Jinyang Shopping District.

Seoul plans to demolish the Sewoon district in stages and build a park totaling 50,000 square meters in its place. The idea is to complete the urban green axis from Bukhansan Mountain to Jongmyo Shrine and Namsan Mountain, and provide a pleasant natural space for residents.

In June last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to amend the Sewoon Redevelopment Promotion Plan to secure approximately 136,000 square meters of green space in the Sewoon district in stages. The basic work has been done to convert the Sewoon shopping district into a park and create an open green space.

The first phase of the project, for which the implementation plan has been announced, is around Sampoong Shopping Center, which is adjacent to the Euljiro business district. The city will first create a temporary park with lawns, gardens, and benches in this area. When the park is completed to the place of the PJ Hotel site in the future, it will be integrated into a large-scale urban park in its entirety.

The second phase of the project, PJ Hotel, is undergoing integrated redevelopment with the nearby 6-1-3 zone.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to create a park on the ground and a 1,500-seat musical concert hall underground by linking the PJ Hotel with the integrated redevelopment of the 6-1-3 zone.

“Converting the Sewoon District into a park is a historic project that will elevate the competitiveness of downtown Seoul to the next level,” said Cho Nam-joon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Urban Space Division. “We will do our best to make it a luxury park that citizens can be proud of.”