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Asia Pacific
A city is born in South Korea
SEOUL – A modern metropolis of glass and steel to rival the best that Dubai can offer is emerging on the western coast of South Korea, 40 miles from Seoul.
On 1,500 acres of landfill that just a few years ago was water, New Songdo City is planned as major financial and business hub for northeast Asia.
The New York Times reports that the South Korean government has designated the area as a free economic zone, a bilingual city (Korean and English) where foreigners can own land and run schools and hospitals, and where companies can get relief from Korean taxes and bureaucracy.
The government is also building a seven-mile bridge that will link New Songdo to Incheon International Airport, off the coast.
New Songdo is privately owned, a joint venture of Gale International, based in New York, and Posco Engineering and Construction of South Korea.
“As an international company, our role is to partner with the Korean government and industry to create an international environment,” said Stanley C. Gale, the chairman and a managing partner at Gale International.
New Songdo will cost an estimated US$30 billion to build, atop the $10 billion that the city of Incheon and the Korean government are spending on infrastructure projects. Every six months, $1 billion in construction is scheduled to begin.
New Songdo is expected to open its doors in August 2009, when the first phase of construction, including the bridge and city centre, is completed.
“Songdo could be to northeast Asia what Shanghai is to southeast Asia,” Gale told the New York Times.
A variety of architects from around the world have been commissioned to design various buildings, including a shopping centre, a museum and a Jack Nicklaus golf course.
Gale said that major international companies have already shown keen interest, and that even more is expected after his company’s planned push this month to sign up tenants for the signature 68-story Northeast Asia Trade Tower.
He said, too, that office space in Seoul is extremely tight, with vacancy levels hovering around two percent, and that this will bode well for Songdo’s eventual 50 million square feet of office space.
In addition, 2,245 units in Songdo’s first residential tower, 1st World Towers, presold in two days.
Ian Jarrett
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