If you’re NOT an expat or contractor or USAF/US Army living in Songtan, stop reading now.
Perhaps some of you in the Songtan area noted that a “New Town” is opening up in Osan City.
The government will designate two new towns in Gyeonggi Province as part of efforts to reinvigorate the construction industry. The plots assigned are the 6.9 million sq.-m Geomdan area in Incheon and the 5.2 million sq.-meter Segyo area in Osan. (Chosun Ilbo.)
Well, they are also planning a Shinjang New town as well, but its just in the formative talking stages. From what I’m seeing there will be three areas in the Shinjang 2-dong area — at the boundary with Seojong-dong. There are government, academics and construction companies involved.
Anyway, why am I bothering you? I was asked for historical inputs — actually they just wanted photos from my site for free as I document “lost” history as a hobby. But what surprised me was that they also asked my opinion on how to make things better for foreigners living off-base and any suggestions to improving the Shinjang Mall area.
This took me completely off guard. I told them that I was probably NOT the person to ask on those areas as I’m a relative newcomer to the area. However, I made a suggestion of garnering opinions from longtime expats. Immediately, they said, sorry and the questions were perhaps too broad, etc. etc. — but would I STILL attend the meeting on the 26th of Aug at 1500 to answer questions on the history of the area.
So what I’m asking of any expats, contractors, or USFK personnel with long living experience at Osan AB/Songtan (like Frank from the old Lost Nomad blog) is: If any of you have CONSTRUCTIVE advice on how to make things better for foreigners here, please drop me an email. I know they retracted the question, but IF they ask again, I’d love to give them something that could benefit us all who live here.
It’s not often that Korean planners (govenment, private company and academics) ask us Americans for our opinions — and if they me ask again, I’d like to have something to give them. My email is kalani@kalaniosullivan.com.
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4:29 pm on August 22nd, 2008 1
Kalani, Mahalo plenty for the opportunity. E-mail sent.
Cheers!
7:00 pm on August 23rd, 2008 2
I’m not sure if I qualify as a long term resident, having been here for seven or so years, but as I was thinking about it, I couldn’t come up with anything (short of transforming the immediate area into mini-America with wide roads, Wally world, and blonds with big breasts
)
However, I’d be interested in learning some general suggestions others may have given.
10:10 am on August 25th, 2008 3
Cien, excluding the blondes (what was I thinking?), I said pretty much the same thing.
My understanding is that the entire area south of Shinjang Mall will be leveled; from the gate to at least old highway 1 (just on the other side of the tracks), south as far as the school complex and Songtan station.
I would personally like to see a Suwon station-like complex with plenty of shops, duty-free and otherwise, western restaurants, bars and movie theaters, etc. The restaurants are not for me, but for the 1 to 3 years assignment folks at Osan and The Hump.
We definitely need wide roads and man-sized parking spots.
12:32 pm on August 25th, 2008 4
Did some checking and Dave’s right. However, everything is still in the planning stages and nothing firm. Dave’s concerns over the height restrictions for high-rises may be a concern that the base hopefully will address. They are NOT in the flight path on the north side of the Shinjang-1 area as they appear to be on the south-side of the Shinjang 2 area. Even if high-rises are built in the Shinjang Mall area, they still would be out of the flight path, but there are a lot of other technical regulations that may come into play. The base is the best to be asked about this BEFORE high-rise plans go any further.
There is some talk of making high-rises in the Shinjang Mall area which also brings noise levels from aircraft takeoffs into play. The base needs to be asked about this as well.
Dave’s concerns over high-rises were because of the aircraft flight paths. From what I hear, 21-23 story high-rises are planned because the builders say they cannot make money on lower structures. My concerns were that the location to the south was low-lying rice fields before filled in for residences. If construction is on the hill areas with bedrock underlayers, there is no problem. The three areas high-lighted along the Seojong-dong side and on the Geodok-myeon Peace City side are on hillsides. If the high-rises are built on the Shinjang Mall area, we are talking about the land originally being built up by the 809th EAB by massive fill by cutting down surrounding hills. The elevated area is MAN-MADE. The underlying area needs some drilling surveys to ensure that they can support the weight of 21-story structures.
Buildings that were constructed on filled areas in the 1990s along Route 1 (i.e., Kunyong Apartments) are showing signs of cracks in their structures. This my concern of building over land-filled areas — that were swamps or rice fields in the past.
Dave is correct on the plan to raze the Shinjang Mall area and start over. Things are all in the planning stages, but what I heard was that they also planned to build high-rise structures here as well. The first three stories will be commercial, but the rest residential. Seems like the owners of the land will be receive compensation based on a varying scale based on location. Then the owners will be given new locations based on a raffle system in the new buildings along the mall. The details are all very vague.
The bottom line is that they will be going to a western GRID SYSTEM. The weaving alleyways and dead-end roads will be eliminated. Basically, they are continuing the start of the Grid system laid out in 1978 in the Shinjang-2 residential area. Shinjang 2 will remain all residential.
Razing of Shinjang Mall will allow them to construct new roads on a grid system. The entrance to the area is based on the new road along the railroad tracks. The road will be the left turn at the stoplight for the bridge overpass. The road is not constructed but has been planned for a long time. The Grid system will also be applied to the Shinjang-1 area in the land that was ceded to Korea near the Beta Gate. All the underground sewers were laid last year and it is under development. Have not heard of any plans for development of this area, but the infrastructure has been laid and most certainly it looks like a residential area buildup, but most likely NOT high-rises. This land would be less lucrative for development — like the apartments up near the end of Songtan City on Route 1 because of aircraft takeoff noise levels.
Please factor in the plans to develop a second runway at Osan AB. The only reason I can figure out is that somewhere in the recesses of the ROK planning staff they are looking at a regional airport — much like how Kunsan AB provides the runway for the Kunsan Airport until a longer new civilian runway is constructed. Suwon AB could also be used as a regional airport, but with its growth, there might be conflicts over the noise levels and air pollution concerns. Anyway, the second runway is still in planning but IMO is very feasible and easy to construct as a parallel runway. I can see no problems with its construction in a very short time as all the infrastructure to support it is in place and the underlayers are solid.
As everyone knows, the business in the Shinjang Mall area has fallen dramatically in the past decade as troop numbers have declined with the major factor being that TDY associated with the major exercises (i.e., Team Spirit) died. The “good ol’ days” are gone and it is becoming harder and harder for the older tailor-shop or custom shoe businesses to survive. The ready-made businesses stock mostly made in China goods. Some businesses stated that they no longer have the drive-by Korean trade once the mall was opened — though others state it has had only a minimal impact. Many of the owners of the first-generation businesses (most in their late 60s-70s) are talking of retiring, while the second-generation businesses are diversifying (i.e., the Lim family). Many of the first-generation businesses are not doing much business, but only survive because they pay no rent as they own the land. It is looking like it is time for a change.
The planners are looking to build a fountain in the main gate area but this is also very vague — and they seem to be searching for a theme.
The old Shinjang Mall route will be preserved, but how they will end up configuring the area all vague. It looks like they are looking at high-rises in front of the gate with mixed business-residential. If this is true, they would be making Shinjang into a real shopping mall with the first three stories business and the upper stories rest residential. Because of the mall area would be void of sunlight — and in winter an ice alley — hopefully they are thinking of an enclosed Mall like Stateside and in Seoul — which in turn would fit into Dave’s vision. However, how the bars would fit into this might be a problem.
Other things I see as a problem is if the Special Tourism Zone dispensations are taken away. The special tax breaks are given to bars for discounts on tax on beer and liquor — and well as 10 percent discounts on all bar purchases (ie, furniture and airconditioners). If they become regular bars, their life expectancy will be very short. The system started by Park Chung-hee in the 1970s to create the “camptowns” for GIs was extended in 1990s when Pyeongtaek (after it took over Songtan City) blessed Songtan as a “Special Tourism Zone”. However, if this is to become a true international SHOPPING zone, the bar row image of Shinjang Mall may pass into history. Some of the older clubs may make the transition because they are actually part of a second-generation diversification on the Mall such as Golden Gate. Other older clubs such as STEREO may find it harder to transition.
The idea of making this a special SHOPPING zone is feasible. This past weekend, a Pusan group was in Shinjang for 7-hours of shopping with boxes stacked high at the curb for their return. With the West Coast highway and freeways providing an easy connection, it could become a reality with support of the KNTO as part of a tourism package — sort of a replacement of Itaewon.
Just some of my thoughts. If something new crops up, I will post it here.
1:09 pm on August 25th, 2008 5
Saw one error in my statement when I said Shinjang 2 will be ALL residential. I should have said, the current all residential areas in Shinjang 2 dong (with small businesses) will remain intact as far as I know. However, the current Shingjang Mall shopping area of Shinjang 2-dong will be razed. How this will impact the Asia Hotel, Osan, Prince and Songtan Tourist Hotel I don’t have a clue. The streets are basically on a grid pattern, but need to be widened. Again how this will end up, I don’t have a clue.