단군이래 최대 개발사업으로 조명 받았던 용산국제업무지구 개발사업이 목요일 법원 판결로 400억을 긴급 수혈 받아 기사회생했다. 하지만, 추가 자금 조달과 사업 계획에 대한 대주주간 이견 조율 등 풀어야 할 숙제가 적지 않아 사업 정상화까지는 넘어야 할 산이 많을 것으로 전망된다.

31조가 소요될 것으로 예상되는 용산개발사업의 자금조달 및 기획을 책임지고 있는 드림허브프로젝트금융투자회사(이하 드림허브)의 자본금은 7일 현재 5억원만 남아있어 3월 12일 만기가 돌아오는 금융권 이자 59억을 막기 위해 자금 수혈이 긴급히 필요한 상황이었다.

7일, 긴급 자금 수혈 방안을 논의하기 위해 드림허브 측이 긴급 이사회를 소집한 가운데, 드림허브 측이 국가를 상대로 낸 400억원대 소송에서 승소 판결을 받아 용산개발 프로젝트는 가까스로 부도 위기를 면했다.

하지만, 용산개발 프로젝트의 핵심인 150층 드림타워의 건설 자금 모집 방법을 놓고 1대주주 코레일과 2대 주주 ㈜ 롯데관광개발의 입장 차이가 커 용산개발프로젝트의 미래는 여전히 불투명한 상황이다.

용산국제업무지구 개발사업은 코레일이 소유한 용산 철도정비창 부지와 서부이촌동 일대 땅 56만㎡를 재개발하는 사업으로 2007년부터 사업이 본격화 되었다. 랜드마크 드림타워와 쇼핑몰, 호텔, 백화점, 아파트 등 60여개동을 짓는 초대형 프로젝트로 사업비만 31조원이 필요하며, 현재까지 4조 정도 자금이 수혈되었다.

사업이 파산하면 자금을 출자한 롯데관광개발과 코레일 등 30개 출자사 들이 고스란히 손해를 보게 되며 땅을 돌려받게 되는 코레일 보다는 민간사업자들의 피해가 더 클 전망이다.

문제는 사업 자금 확보 방법에 대해 대주주인 코레일과 민간 출자사 간에 입장 차가 크다는 데 기인한다. 코레일은 민간출자사들은 추가 부담을 함께 떠 앉아야 한다는 입장이지만, 롯데관광개발 등 민간 출자사는 이를 부당하다고 주장하고 있다. 더 나아가 민간 출자사들은 코레일이 계약 불이행과 사업정상화 지연 등 사업 무산 시 귀책사유는 코레일이 져야 한다며 코레일을 상대로 소송전도 불사하겠다는 입장이다.

코레일 관계자에 따르면 자금 수혈로 사업이 정상화 되더라도 사업 지연은 피할 수 없을 것으로 예상된다. 건설기간만 4년이 걸리는 드림타워의 경우, 현재 기존 건물을 철거한 대지에 오염방지화 사업을 진행되고 있을 뿐 착공도 하지 못한 상태다.

(코리아헤럴드 서지연 기자)

<관련 영문 기사>

Yongsan project struggles against bankruptcy

By Seo Jee-yeon

The nation’s single biggest property development project to build an international business district in Yongsan, central Seoul, by 2016 is fending off bankruptcy amid difficulties in financing the construction of the landmark 150-story Dream Tower, the centerpiece of the project.

The board of Dream Hub, which is responsible for the financing and planning of the Yongsan development project, convened a meeting Thursday to discuss ways to extend a lifeline to the project, but failed to draw an agreement. Instead, KORAIL and Lotte Tour Development, the two major shareholders of Dream Hub, clashed over how to resuscitate the project.

Capital for the project has been drying up upon the company’s failure to raise funds in September last year to continue Dream Tower’s construction. After demolishing the previous structure, the project has since been in limbo and has yet to break ground.

Market watchers said in the short term, the future of the Yongsan development project depends on whether Dream Hub will be able to increase capital before the late March deadline for an interest payment amounting to 5.9 billion won ($5 million). The funding for Dream Hub, which started at 1 trillion won ($900 million), has dwindled to less than 500 million won.

But the developer may buy time to avoid bankruptcies as it is expected to receive compensation amounting to 42 billion won from the government.  A court ruled on Thursday that the Korea Post should pay 42 billion won to the developer for having used the site for development without permission.

Disagreement among shareholders

Back in 2007, when Seoul City unveiled a bold development plan to transform 560,000 square meters -- including the gigantic maintenance shop of KORAIL in Yongsan -- into an international business district, outlooks overflowed with optimism that the plan would liven up Seoul’s metropolitan façade. The highlight of the plan was to build a 665-meter-tall, 150-story, landmark multi-purpose commercial building, later named Dream Tower.

Depending on those rosy outlooks, about 30 companies from state-run to asset management to construction joined the establishment of Dream Hub to lead the Yongsan project.

State-run KORAIL, which owns most of the land for the Yongsan project, also jumped into the project, taking the biggest slice of the pie with a 25 percent shareholding. Lotte Tour Development and KB Asset Management followed with 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The 10-member board of Dream Hub, however, started making noise when the local real estate bubble burst in 2008, affected by the global financial crisis.

The project seemed to normalize in July 2011, when KORAIL said it would support the financing for the construction of Dream Tower in phases, under the condition that every shareholder should take responsibility for increasing capital by issuing convertible bonds based on their shareholdings. But the second round of capital increases through CB issuances failed in December last year, and KORAIL stopped injecting funds.

“The Yongsan development project was designed to be a private project from the beginning. Twenty-eight of the Dream Hub’s 30 shareholders in are private companies except KORAIL and SH Corp. KORAIL cannot continue to inject funds as a state-run company without the shared responsibility of the other, private shareholders,” a KORAIL official said.

Lotte Tour Development and other private shareholders, however, criticized the manner of financing that KORAIL proposed.

“It is nonsense to force all shareholders to take responsibility for financing. Shareholders have a different business situation. For instance, it is hard for construction firms like us to inject more funds into the project amid a business slump. We need a different method of financing,” said an official from the Lotte Tour Development, claiming that a lawsuit could be in the future unless KORAIL changes its stance on financing.

Market watchers said it seems difficult for the two major shareholders to settle their differences as the public and private sectors are different in solving issues. Growing doubt over the profitability of the project amid the protracted downturn in the real estate market is another challenge facing Dream Hub.

“No one wants to see the failure of the project, but it is time to review it objectively and change the development strategy to prevent a bigger disaster,” a KORAIL official said.

otte Tour Development and other private shareholders insisted the project will return profit to shareholders, if completed as planned.

If the project fails, however, shareholders from the private sector are expected to be hit harder than KORAIL which will get the land back. 

“Regardless of the financing issue, it is obvious that the development project will be protracted, as the Dream Tower -- which was supposed to be completed in 2016 -- has yet to break ground,” the KORAIL official said. Under the Dream Hub plan, construction of the building should be completed in four years.