Seoul Gives Lotte Go-Ahead to Open Shopping Malls at Tower Site

By Seonjin Cha

Lotte Group won approval to open the first phase of its $3.3 billion project in Seoul’s Gangnam district, ending a delay over safety concerns at a site that will eventually include the country’s tallest building.
Lotte said it will open the project’s three low-rise shopping mall buildings later this month after gaining permission from the Seoul government. That approval can be revoked if the company reneges on promises related to safety and measures to prevent traffic congestion, according to an e-mailed statement from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Today’s announcement ends an impasse between the city government and the operator of South Korea’s biggest department-store chain, which estimates it has forgone sales of about 90 billion won ($85 million) a month since it applied to
open the malls in June. Seoul’s government said today it gave the go-ahead after its investigation into sinkholes that appeared near the site were found to be “unrelated or have low relevance” to Lotte’s project.
“The city is giving approval as experts share the common view that there’s no safety problem with the buildings,” the government said in today’s statement. An investigation into the shrinking water level of a nearby lake will continue until May next year, it said.
Lotte is spending 3.5 trillion won on the project initiated by the group’s founder Shin Kyuk Ho. Lotte says the retail area is equivalent to 47 soccer fields, making it Asia’s largest mall, while the site’s landmark will be the 555-meter, 123-story Lotte World Tower, scheduled for completion by the end of 2016.

Six-Star Hotel

The tower will have a six-star hotel and the world’s highest observation deck, while the whole complex will have a daytime population of 200,000, according to Lotte.
It’s one of several major developments in the upscale Gangnam district south of the Han river which dissects the capital. The nearby COEX Mall is described by the country’s tourism board as Asia’s largest underground shopping center, while a group led by Hyundai Motor Co. last month agreed to pay 10.6 trillion won -- triple the assessed value -- for a site dubbed by local media as the “yolk of Gangnam.”
Hyundai’s plans for the property include a hotel, convention center, auto theme park and its own headquarters.