SM Group makes Seoul debut with Hyeonjeo-dong Moa Town preferred bidder selection

Dong-A Construction Industry, a construction affiliate of SM Group, has been selected as the preferred bidder for the contractor designation process for the Moa Town project in Hyeonjeo-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.

The company announced Monday that it had been named preferred bidder for the project — marking the first time an SM Group construction affiliate has reached that status for a redevelopment or reconstruction project in Seoul. SM Group said it plans to use the Hyeonjeo-dong project as a springboard to expand its foothold in Seoul's urban renewal market.

The Hyeonjeo-dong Moa Town project will develop a residential complex on a site centered on lots 1-5 in Hyeonjeo-dong, Seodaemun-gu, comprising seven buildings with three below-ground floors and up to 18 above-ground floors, for a total of 362 apartment units and ancillary facilities.

Moa Town is a Seoul Metropolitan Government small-scale housing renewal program that groups aging low-rise residential neighborhoods into living-zone units for integrated redevelopment, targeting areas where large-scale redevelopment is not feasible.

The Hyeonjeo-dong site gained prominence last August when Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited and announced a plan to revitalize the Moa Town and Moa Housing programs. It has also been designated as a pilot site — the first among Seoul's small-scale renewal projects — to apply a project-viability correction coefficient.

The project-viability correction coefficient is a system that adjusts public-contribution requirements, such as floor-area ratio relaxations and affordable housing supply, by taking into account land prices and development conditions in each area.

Dong-A Construction said it expects to improve project viability through the correction coefficient and accelerate progress with administrative support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seodaemun-gu.

"Hyeonjeo-dong in Seodaemun-gu is an aging residential area that has gone undeveloped for a long time," an SM Group construction division official said. "As this is Dong-A Construction's first Moa Town project in Seoul, we will bring our full professional capabilities to bear."

Earlier this year, Dong-A Construction launched a residential officetel project, "Suwon Station Honorsville Platz," in Godeung-dong, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The development — four buildings with three below-ground floors and up to 16 above-ground floors, totaling 401 units — was one of the first projects unveiled after SM Group's construction division relaunched its housing brand, Honorsville.