By Kim Jae-won
Hannam Village in central Seoul was sold to Daishin Securities for 624.2 billion won ($540.2 million) in an auction, closing its role as a family housing complex for U.S. servicemen, the state-run land and housing corporation said Thursday.
The Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) said that it sold the 60,677 square-meter land around 670-1 Hannam-dong to Daishin F&I, a non-performing loan investment affiliate of the local brokerage house, which offered the highest price. The starting price was 613.1 billion won.
“The number of bidders was smaller than what we expected,” said an LH official, declining to unveil how many companies participated in the auction.
Market watchers said that big housing developers did not participate in the auction because development of the area is limited to buildings no higher than 30 meters. They also said the expensive bidding price also deterred them from bidding.
Daishin F&I plans to build luxury houses on the land, seeking to draw rich residents who want to enjoy the Han River and Mount Nam in the neighborhood. The luxury housing complex Hannam the Hill is located across the street of the land,.
Previously, the village, consisting of 10 buildings with 512 units, had been leased for more than three decades to servicemen and their family members in the U.S. military camps nearby. Thus, it was often called “The Little U.S. in Seoul.”
It has been closed since late 2014 after the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) started to move to Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province. The closure was part of the USFK’s gradual efforts to move troops in and north of Seoul to regional hubs south of the capital.
Most Army forces have been moving to Camp Humphreys, a once-sleepy helicopter base in Pyeongtaek that is undergoing a massive expansion. The relocation has faced multiple setbacks due to funding and construction problems. The move was initially scheduled to take place in 2008 but was postponed until 2012 and then to 2016.