 |
| Construction of Seoul Arena in Seoul's Dobong District, above, will begin in June this year and be complete in 2025. Courtesy of kakao |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korea's first concert arena dedicated to K-pop is now on track for construction after Seoul and the arena's private business operator signed a contract on Monday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Arena (the tentative name of the business operator) signed a build-transfer-operate (BTO) deal for the facility (also called Seoul Arena) to be built near Changdong Station in Seoul's Dobong District.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Namkoong Whon, the CEO of Kakao, a big tech company and the biggest investor in Seoul Arena, signed the contract at City Hall.
To be built over about 50,000 square meters with a total floor area of over 119,000 square meters (from two basement floors to six aboveground floors), the facility will have an arena that can seat over 18,200 audience members and a smaller concert hall for 2,000 visitors. Seven theater screens, as well as retail shops and offices related to K-pop, will comprise the complex as well.
The Seoul city government provided the site for the facility, while Kakao and ARENA.A, investors in the Seoul Arena project, will inject the project's total funds of 312 billion won ($257 million). Seoul Arena will oversee the design and construction of the facility.
 |
| Dobong District Office Head Lee Dong-jin, from left, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Kakao CEO Namkoong Whon, and president of Kakao's board of directors Kim Seong-su joined signing a contract between the Seoul City Government and Kakao to build Seoul Arena, at the city government's headquarters in Seoul's Jung District, April 4. Courtesy of Kakao |
Seoul Arena's construction will begin in June of this year and is scheduled to be completed by 2025. Following completion, Kakao will operate and maintain the facility for 30 years, while the city government will own the facility.
K-pop and K-culture have been influencing pop culture and becoming increasingly trendy globally, but in Korea, there hasn't been a dedicated concert facility to support such global success and recognition, according to Seoul Mayor Oh.
"Sometimes they have had to rent sports stadiums. Other times, large-scale concerts or other major events held by foreign artists had to be canceled because there weren't places to host them," said the mayor. "With the opening of Seoul Arena, K-pop fans from across the world will flock to the new landmark. It will also raise the global competitiveness of Seoul as a 'cultural city.'"
The plan for Seoul Arena was first publicly announced in 2015. State-run research agency the Korea Development Institute concluded in 2018 that the project was feasible as a private investment business. In 2019, the city government selected Seoul Arena as the main private firm to negotiate the project.
After the negotiations were completed in August 2021, the project passed the city council's Public Safety and Construction Committee's assessment the following month. The city council passed the project's financial plan in December 2021, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance's private investment business assessment committee also approved it last March.
![[INTERVIEW] 'Money Heist: Korea' writer feels satisfied to expand series' franchise](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/e264f8d5589442489d72f9494ca3f1c7.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
