Seongnam’s Sangdaewon 2 Redevelopment Sets Member Forum as Builder Dispute Nears Turning Point

 

A court fight over replacing the builder has deepened divisions in the Sangdaewon 2 redevelopment project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, prompting the union to switch from an ouster meeting to a members’ forum. The move comes as a court ruling has cast doubt on both the builder change and the validity of a key vote, forcing the parties to reassess next steps.

Industry officials said Tuesday that the Sangdaewon 2 Housing Redevelopment Union notified members it will hold a “members’ forum to normalize the project” on May 9.

May 9 had originally been set for an extraordinary general meeting to vote on removing the union head and executives. The change follows a court decision on April 29 granting DL E&C’s request for an injunction to suspend the effect of a union vote, effectively halting the impact of a general meeting held April 11 to pass an agenda item terminating DL E&C’s construction contract. The court said there was room to believe “a significant number” of written consent forms may have been forged.

With the injunction granted, DL E&C’s builder rights remain in place for now. On the same day, the court dismissed the union side’s request to block a planned April 30 meeting to remove the union head. The emergency committee then decided to postpone the ouster meeting to May 9.

But three days before that date, the union leadership and the emergency committee agreed to hold a forum instead. The shift comes after GS Engineering & Construction participated alone in the first bidding round and gained preferred bidder status, while the court’s ruling that the termination of DL E&C’s contract was invalid further complicated the process.

Union leaders, including Chairman Jeong, had pushed through the contract-termination agenda to sign a construction contract with preferred bidder GS E&C. The emergency committee, however, has argued DL E&C should keep the job. Under the earlier plan, if the ouster agenda passed, DL E&C would begin construction as scheduled in June; if it failed, the union leadership would move to hold a general meeting on May 23 to select a builder.

As the dispute over the builder change and union management drags on, delays, higher financing burdens and the risk of additional lawsuits appear unavoidable. Separate from the injunction, DL E&C’s main lawsuit seeking to invalidate the general meeting resolution is also underway, leaving legal uncertainty likely to persist.

Some members have already faced cases of “self-paid interest,” in which they must pay interest in advance on relocation loans. That has occurred because a gap opened between interest due dates and loan disbursement dates as financing was delayed amid the builder uncertainty.

DL E&C and GS E&C are closely watching the union’s internal discussions. “The court found the general meeting result invalid due to procedural flaws, so talks on selecting a builder have returned to square one,” an industry official said. “Only after the union leadership and the emergency committee reach an agreement will a result on the builder follow.”

The Sangdaewon 2 redevelopment project calls for building a 5,090-home complex on a 242,000-square-meter site in Sangdaewon-dong, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam. Construction costs are projected at about 1 trillion won. After signing a contract with DL E&C in 2021, the sides clashed over whether to apply the company’s high-end “Acro” brand.