The Garden 5 development is slow to progress
Published: 27 Dec. 2009, 21:50
Only 12 percent of the shops at the Garden 5 mall building are occupied as store owners along the Cheonggye Stream were reluctant to move in. On the sixth floor of one building, only one store is open. By Kim Do-hun
However, there is only a single shop in business on the sixth floor. It is in the very center of that floor without any signboard.
The Garden 5, which is being constructed by SH Corporation under the Seoul Metropolitan government, is slated to be a multipurpose shopping mall designed to have merchants who want to run businesses near the Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul. The facility, which occupies 121,213 square-meters (1,304,725 square-feet) of land, was built with a budget of 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion). But only 12 percent of the retail space in the mall is currently occupied.
“I have been running the business alone for six months since not one shop has been leased here during that time,” said Lee Eun-young, 55, the owner of the shop on the sixth floor, who once ran a business around Cheonggye Stream.
There are three separate buildings in the Garden 5 with different purposes - TOOL, WORKS and LIFE - that have already been built. The complex has room for some 8,360 shops.
If two other facilities - the Logistics center and Revitalization complex - are completed within three years, the Grand 5 master plan will be realized.
The second floor of the TOOL building, arranged for shops selling metal goods and basic industrial materials, is experiencing the same slow development. There are only five shops open in a space that can accommodate 50 shops.
“People selling metal goods prefer to settle in either the first or second floor,” said Kim Seung-jong, 35, a merchant who sells industrial sprays. “But the building is built with more stories and the actual space became small. Rent is so expensive.”
The SH Corporation has lowered rent in order to lure merchants from Cheonggye. The corporation even allows individuals to set up two or more shops.
However, there have been few positive results. “I gave up signing a contract since the prices are higher than I expected,” Kim Ki-chan, 52, who runs a hardware tool shop on the street of Cheonggye 3-ga in Jongno. “I have to wait for five to 10 years to see the mall revitalized. I cannot afford to pay high costs until then.”
The corporation said there are some high risks for merchants since the mall is not yet fully activated.
“The corporation should maintain level management expenses and rent for two and five years, respectively,” said Kang Seong-il, head of a merchant party in the LIFE building.
Another reason for a shortage of tenants is that merchants remaining near the Cheonggye Stream are considering moving their shops to the city of Hanam in Gyeonggi because the rent is cheap and the city is making a shopping center with large spaces.
“We will give up drawing merchants from the Cheonggye to the Garden 5 and make that space available to others,” said Park Hui-su, an official at the corporation.
By Kim Gyeong-jin, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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