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GS E&C mired in controversy over parking space

GS E&C, one of South Korea’s leading apartment builders, has become embroiled in a feud with the buyers of mega apartment complex units over a relatively small number of parking spaces of the complex in Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province.

The construction business of GS Group is currently building an apartment complex fitted with some 4,000 units, called the Hangang Central Xi, near Gimpo New Town, west of Seoul. It began presale contracts of the apartments in May.

“When the construction firm changed the design of the complex (last year) to increase the number of small and medium-sized flats to attract more tenants, it did not take the parking lot into account, and consequently the number of parking spots shrank,” an online community of the buyers of the off-plan properties said in a statement sent to the construction firm.

“The current plan for the parking lot that allows only 1.16 vehicles per household would cause significant inconvenience to the residents,” the group said.

The apartment complex was initially planned to feature larger units (ranging from 85 to 125 square meters), but the company scrapped the plan out of concerns that the bigger apartment units would not attract people amid the current downturn of the local real estate market.

The company instead increased the number of the small and medium-sized apartments including those measuring 70 to 84 square meters.

A longtime realtor in the Gimpo region also said “the parking lot of the Central Xi is much smaller than those of other small apartment complexes in the new town and nearby areas.”

The Pungmu Purgio Centreville apartment complex, which is being built by Daewoo E&C in Pungmu-dong, Gimpo, for instance, is fitted with a parking lot that can accommodate 1.247 vehicles per household, while the same Xi-branded apartment complex in Pungmu-dong allows each household an average parking space for 1.91 vehicles.

In a series of statements sent to GS E&C since August, the group of buyers demanded an increase in the number of parking spaces, but the construction firm has not taken any action to resolve the issue. It only said the complex’s parking lot meets the standards stipulated by the relevant construction laws.

Some buyers of the off-plan apartments staged one-person relay demonstrations in front of the display home in Gimpo and the head office of GS E&S in Seoul.

They blamed the construction firm for its negligence toward the residents’ convenience and possible conflicts among neighbors due to the insufficient parking spaces.

Parking space issues often become a bone of contention among neighbors and make headlines in Korea as quarrels over parking spots escalate into deadly incidents.

Last month, a 42-year-old man in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, was indicted for stabbing two sisters to death after a series of fights over a parking spot.

The construction project -- the biggest of its kind in Gimpo -- is operated by Saengbo Real Estate Trust, a joint investment firm established by Samsung Life and Kyobo Life, and being built by GS E&C. The first residents are scheduled to move into the complex starting January 2017.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)