`Miari to Become Residential Area
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
``Miari Texas,’’ one of the most infamous red-light districts in Seoul dotted with brothels, will be reborn as a commercial and residential complex town, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday.
Seoul city said that it designated 17,686 square meters of Hawolgok-dong, including ``Miari Texas,’’ as an area for renovation as part of its balanced development program.
The new commercial and residential building complex will consist of four buildings with 33 to 36 stories each with a total floor space of 177,000 square meters, equipped with 430 apartment units as well as culture and leisure facilities.
While the upper part of the buildings will be residential, basements and first floors will have large shopping malls. The second and third floors will have facilities related to leisure and welfare, and the fourth to sixth floors will have offices. The renovation will start around this fall, it said.
``The renovation of Miari area will be the first example of changing a red-light district as part of Seoul’s redevelopment program,’’ said a city official.
^The government will also expand the number of roads in Jongamno near Miari, which is notorious for traffic jams.
A building complex of 1,396 square meters consisting of four underground floors and six above ground floors will also be built in Hyehwa-dong in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. While the underground part of the building will be used for performance halls and art exhibition places, the upper part will have lecture rooms and research rooms.
An art museum consisting of two underground floors and four above ground floors as well as a traditional tea-making research institute will be built in a 432 square-meter area in Gwanhun-dong, also in Jongno-gu.