Seoul says JYP’s new headquarters withdrawal is being misrepresented as SH’s fault alone: “Don’t mislead public opinion”

[Financial News]  The Seoul Metropolitan Government pushed back against claims assigning responsibility to the Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH Corporation) over JYP Entertainment’s withdrawal of its plan to build a new headquarters in Godeok-dong, Gangdong-gu.

In a statement issued on the 9th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, “The process of pursuing and abandoning JYP’s new headquarters project is creating the mistaken impression that SH Corporation alone is at fault, but that is not true.”
The Seoul Metropolitan Government’s position is that it notified buyers from the time of sale that the land-use plan for the area around the new headquarters site could change.
The land-sale notice dated September 4, 2023, explicitly stated that “the land-use plans for the land being sold and surrounding land may change due to changes in permits and approvals, among other things.”
The Seoul Metropolitan Government stressed that changing parkland to self-sufficiency facility land was also a lawful procedure to secure funds for installing school facilities. SH Corporation applied to change the parkland designation on May 9 last year under the School Sites Act, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved the change on October 24 of the same year.
The city also pointed out that JYP continued with the design of its new headquarters and the permitting process even after the change to the parkland designation was made public, and did not formally raise any objections.
After the change to the parkland designation was announced on October 24 last year, JYP applied for architectural review on November 11 of the same year. It continued the building-permit process after the February 26 this year notice for the supply of Self-Sufficiency Facility Site 8, and received a building permit on April 15 this year.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that JYP had not formally raised any concerns with SH Corporation or the city during this process, and that its first objection came on April 16, the day after the building permit was issued.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, “SH Corporation notified JYP that although restoring the site to its original state would be difficult, it would flexibly revise the land-use plan—including by designating a low-rise building zone of five stories or fewer along the frontage—if JYP wanted the land-supply notice put on hold and the frontage opened up.”
The city criticized JYP, saying, “On October 6, JYP told SH Corporation that it hoped to hold discussions on October 13, then announced its withdrawal on the 8th and issued a statement as though SH Corporation were responsible for everything.”
It added, “Just as a company’s brand is important to JYP, the reputation and credibility of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, as a city government, are also important,” and urged JYP “not to mislead public opinion and to make its position clear.”

Meanwhile, JYP announced on the 8th that it would withdraw from the project to build a new headquarters in Godeok-dong. It said the change in the permitted use of the land in front of the new headquarters site had altered key conditions for moving the project forward.
In a statement, JYP said, “After first learning of the change in land use this past April, we held discussions several times with SH Corporation and the Gangdong District Office, but ultimately decided to withdraw from the Godeok new headquarters project.”
It added, “On August 31, we received an official response from SH Corporation that restoring the site to its original state was impossible,” and said, “After considering various factors from multiple angles, including the circumstances surrounding leased buildings other than our current headquarters, we reached the final conclusion that it would be difficult to proceed with the project any further.”
[email protected] An Ga-eul Reporter