“Everything You Look For is Here”

“Space Nine,” a retail-cultural complex located in Yongsan’s privately-funded train station, will open on October 8. With a total floor space of 82,300 pyong, it is 2.3 times the size of COEX mall and 1.6 times that of the Yeouido 63 Building. Space Nine is the largest of its kind in Asia, surpassing its benchmark, Japan’s JR Kyoto train station (71,000 pyong) and Canal City (a 69,500 pyong complex with an artificial canal) of Fukuoka.

Kim Taek, president of Hyundai Station Development, the building construction company, said, “After we settle down a bit, the expected weekend population will be 700,000 people,” and added, “By absorbing customers not only from Shinchon, Yongsan, Daehakro, and Youngdeungpo, but also Incheon, Gwangmyoung, Cheonan, Daejon, and other places of the central area, which are an hour-long express subway ride away from Space Nine, we will become a national shopping mall.”

The company also anticipates that, by drawing teenagers and people in their twenties in the evenings, it will become the “COEX mall north of the river.” To concentrate its marketing on the younger generation, the company has signed singer Seo Taiji to a 1.5 billion won contract as their advertisement model.

Hyundai Construction, which was established with 22.5 billion won in total capital, and with Hyundai Development Company (50.9 percent), Korean National Railroad (24.6 percent), Hyundai Marine and Fire Insurance (7.4 percent), and Daewoo Engineering and Construction (7.1 percent) as shareholders, will donate the train station to the government after collecting profits for 30 years.

With the exception of the fashion mall scheduled to open at the beginning of next year, the digital section, restaurant section, E-mart, and CGV movie theater will open today. The so-called “Neo-electronics center,” with over 1,800 electronics stores, is expanding its digital section and has removed its partition walls. The object is to eliminate “backdoor dealings” of salespersons and customers and to introduce a fixed-price system. President Kim explained, “All of Space Nine’s stores are adhering to the strategy of being ‘cheaper than discount stores with service equal to department stores.’”

The surrounding real estate market is expected to fluctuate. A person related to the TGV Realty Dealer in Hangangro said, “Residential and commercial complexes such as Citypark that will soon be built will have a market price with the Yongsan premium because they are within a 10-minute walk from Space Nine.”

Lee Jae-mun, chief of the Yongsan-gu Office Urban Consolidation Department, said, “After the currently negotiated development problem of the road in front of the train station is resolved, the redevelopment of the vicinity will accelerate and the red-light district in front of the station is expected to be eliminated.”

In-Jik Cho cij1999@donga.com