Aging Yongsan Electronics Market to be redeveloped as 26-story AI and ICT hub

The area around blocks 17 and 18 of Najin Sangga in Seoul's Yongsan Electronics Market is set to be redeveloped into a 26-story AI and ICT business hub. The plan calls for a mixed-use complex combining office space, publicly accessible areas, a public parking facility and a green pedestrian corridor — all designed as a gateway node connecting to the Yongsan International Business District.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday that the architectural review for the "Yongsan Electronics Market Special Planning Zone 8 new construction project" passed at the 11th Architecture Committee meeting, held Monday.

The project will develop a complex of three buildings at 15-2 Hangang-ro 2-ga, Yongsan-gu, spanning nine below-ground floors and 26 above-ground floors, with a total floor area of 155,202.53 square meters. The site will house office facilities, neighborhood commercial facilities and sports facilities, with a floor-area ratio of 962.55 percent.

The site currently holds Najin Sangga blocks 17 and 18, which received occupancy approval in 1969, and the Yongsan Parking Building, approved in 1988. The Seoul Metropolitan Government aims to overhaul the deteriorating urban environment around the electronics market and expand the new-industry office base linked to the Yongsan International Business District.

The design focuses on preserving the industrial identity of the existing electronics market while introducing workspaces suited to emerging sectors such as AI and ICT. The lower floors will feature neighborhood commercial facilities and open-access lounges for both tenants and the general public, while the upper floors will be dedicated to new-industry office space.

A 5-meter-wide public pedestrian passage connecting Cheongpa-ro to the public parking facility will also be built. An elevated public walkway along Cheongpa-ro and a bridge linking the site to an adjacent special planning zone will strengthen the three-dimensional pedestrian network connecting Yongsan Station, the electronics market and surrounding development sites.

Public contribution facilities will include a public parking facility and a Seoul Metropolitan Government veterans' hall. The parking facility, with a total floor area of about 20,000 square meters, will provide 400 parking spaces along with bicycle facilities, a depot for disability-accessible call taxis and office space.

The veterans' hall will have a total floor area of about 9,000 square meters. It will consolidate veterans' organizations and groups related to national merit holders — currently scattered across multiple locations — into a single site, and will be designed as an open space connected to a public plaza at the front to enhance its public character.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects the project to spur commercial recovery, job creation and synergies with surrounding development projects by bringing together new-industry office space, publicly accessible areas and public service functions in the Yongsan Electronics Market district. Construction is scheduled to break ground in 2027 and be completed in 2030.

"The Yongsan Electronics Market area occupies a central location in Seoul with strong public transit access, giving it high growth potential for new industries," said Myeong No-jun, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Housing Bureau. "Through this project, the aging electronics market district will be reborn as a new urban hub equipped with pedestrian and green spaces alongside a foundation for future industries."