Permit delays are piling up costs at two large mixed-use projects billed as the next landmarks around Seoul Forest. Both the Sampyo ready-mix concrete site and Booyoung's Ttukseom site have cleared Seoul's architectural review, but the permits still ahead remain a variable before construction can start. Together, the two projects would put housing, lodging, office and cultural facilities on about 47,000 square meters of prime land in Seongsu. Sampyo, waiting on a follow-up review, has extended the maturity of its bridge loan and increased its borrowing commitment by 120 billion won.
SP Seongsu PFV, the developer of the Sampyo ready-mix site, disclosed on the 16th that it had expanded its borrowing commitment with financial institutions to 760 billion won, according to construction and financial industry sources on the 18th. The move extends by another year the maturity of a 640 billion won bridge loan that had already been increased once in 2024, adding 120 billion won to the commitment. The developer had targeted a construction start by the end of this year, but with the permitting process dragging on, it extended the bridge loan ahead of a conversion to full project financing.
Sampyo said the additional funds include some project costs such as design fees, but that the bulk is set aside to cover financing costs. A bridge loan is borrowing used to secure land and fund early-stage project expenses, and interest must be paid until it is converted into full project financing. The longer the permitting timeline runs, the higher the financing costs needed to keep the project alive.
Behind the delayed year-end groundbreaking was a decision by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to hold off on its metropolitan development review. In July, the working committee on metropolitan area readjustment shelved the "Seoul city plan for use of the former site," which covers the Sampyo ready-mix land, and called for supplementary material on the project's public benefit, population inflow and wide-area transport measures. In particular, it asked the developer to explain clearly whether a plan centered on ultra-luxury apartments with a main unit type of 260 square meters of exclusive floor area, along with a six-star hotel, fits the public welfare purpose set out in the Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act. The committee also said measures to curb population inflow, such as minimizing the number of employees, had limited effect and ordered the developer to draw up workable mitigation steps. It further required an analysis of traffic impact at the level of the wide-area arterial road network, along with improvement measures, and completion of consultations with the Ministry of National Defense on matters including height limits. The developer now has to explain not just its individual building plan but the effect on surrounding traffic and urban functions.
Sampyo recently resubmitted supplementary documents and is awaiting a follow-up review. "We are targeting a conversion to full project financing in the first half of next year, and that too depends on clearing the metropolitan development review," a Sampyo official said.
The 28,000-square-meter Sampyo site, between Seoul Forest and the Han River, served as a ready-mix concrete plant from 1977. A Hyundai Motor Group headquarters was once floated for the land but fell through, and a mixed-use development plan took shape from 2023 through pre-negotiations between the Seoul city government and the private sector. The plan that cleared the city's architectural review in July calls for a residential tower of up to 81 floors and a 53-floor office complex on the roughly 28,000-square-meter site. It would house 403 apartment units, 61 officetel units — studio units used as either homes or offices — and a 130-room hotel, along with office, retail and cultural facilities. It also includes transport improvements and a startup hub for unicorn companies, to be provided through about 608.1 billion won in in-kind contributions the developer will hand over to the city as part of the approval.
Nearby, Booyoung's site is also moving through follow-up steps on a development long at a standstill. The roughly 19,000-square-meter Ttukseom site, which Booyoung bought in 2009 for about 370 billion won, cleared Seoul's architectural review in September with a plan for a building of up to 49 floors containing 383 apartment units, 622 lodging units and a 903-seat performance hall. That came 17 years after the land was acquired. Booyoung is now preparing to apply for project plan approval, with final reviews of various impact assessments, including a building safety impact assessment, still to come. Unlike Sampyo, the project is not subject to the land ministry's metropolitan development review, the company said. Because the remaining permit path differs, construction on the Booyoung site could begin ahead of the Sampyo site depending on how the follow-up steps progress.
"No matter how much you improve the economics, what matters is keeping permits from becoming an additional source of uncertainty," a real estate development industry official said. "In the end, the key to limiting extra cost is how quickly the remaining steps can be wrapped up on a predictable schedule."