Ground is broken on Yeouido Parc 1 complex

Giant shopping arcades and high-rise office buildings will characterize Parc 1, a $2 billion construction project undertaken by international real estate developer Skylan Development and Korean builder Samsung Corp.
Skylan Development’s chairman Paul Rogers broke ground on the complex in central Seoul, to be finished by 2011, saying it will help create 20,000 new jobs in Yeouido once completed.
“Parc 1 is a project armed with world-class experts and will become a flagship landmark of the city of Seoul,” Rogers said in a speech delivered in Korean yesterday.
The event, attended by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and British Ambassador to Korea Warwick Morris, highlighted Seoul’s island financial district and its goal to become a hub of Northeast Asia.
AIG Group last year began work on the 1.4-trillion won ($1.5 billion) Seoul International Financial Center, a giant complex with three office buildings as high as 270 meters, a hotel, movie theaters and shopping. The project will be complete by 2013.
Skylan’s project also boasts a high-rise, 72-story office tower, a 59-story office tower, a six-story shopping center and a hotel on 46,465 square meters of Yeouido, an island on the Han River that hosts major stock brokers and investment firms. The firm’s chief executive Peter Walichnowski is well known for the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, the most well-established shopping and investment center in the Middle East.
“I hope Parc 1 will become a magnet to attract foreign direct investors and be an operation base for them,” said Mayor Oh in a speech yesterday.

By Jung Ha-won Staff Writer [hawon@joongang.co.kr]