A major U.S. real estate developer has invited South Korean construction companies to take part in a new city project spanning an area comparable to Seoul's Yeouido district. The aim is to bring the high-rise building technology and high-density urban development experience accumulated by Korean builders into the new city. The move could open a fresh opportunity for Korean firms, which have struggled to break into the U.S. residential development market because of steep local permitting barriers and project risks.
Officials from Flagship Companies, which is developing the large-scale mixed-use district "Utah City" in the U.S. state of Utah, recently visited Korea to meet with major domestic construction companies and propose business cooperation, according to the construction industry on the 15th. Utah City is a project to transform the site of the former Geneva Steel mill in Vineyard, Utah County, into a mixed-use district combining residential, office, commercial and cultural facilities. The land secured so far alone covers 2.83 million square meters, roughly equivalent to the entire area of Yeouido at 2.9 million square meters.
Flagship Companies approached Korean builders because it judged them to have strong competitiveness and a high level of execution in high-rise building technology and in urban planning and design at the scale of a new city. Unlike suburban housing development in the U.S., which has centered mainly on low-rise residential facilities, Korean construction companies have built up experience concentrating large-scale housing along with commercial and convenience facilities on limited sites. Flagship Companies is considering having Korean builders handle design and engineering, construction management (CM) and construction work, and is also weighing a plan under which Korean firms would develop certain zones themselves to create a "Korean-style apartment complex."
Within the construction industry, expectations are high that the partnership offer could become a turning point for Korean builders to enter the U.S. housing market in earnest, a market that has had unusually high barriers to entry. Kim Jae-sik, vice chairman of the Korea Housing Association, said the case could be an opportunity to open a new market, starting with exporting "K-apartments" to the U.S. market.