While a $300 million South Korean real estate project has stalled due to a slow market, officials at two other high-profile South Korean skyscraper projects on Friday said construction is on track.
Posco Engineering and Construction broke ground in October 2009 for its three-tower residential complex, but said Thursday that project has been put on hold temporarily due to a lack of rigor in the market. It’s unknown when the project will resume.
Sung-hwan Kim, marketing manager for Hyundai Amco which is building the 22-story Phnom Penh Tower on Monivong Boulevard, said construction has reached 22 stories and is slated for completion in March.
“We are two months ahead of schedule,” he said, adding that the company has signed contracts for several companies to occupy the space.
He acknowledged that the market is still slow, but differentiated Phnom Penh Tower, which will house office space, from the problems of Star River a largely residential project.
“We are not concerned about that project, it doesn’t affect us. It’s different product,” he said.
Kim Tae -yun, assistant project manager for Gold Tower 42, said the project is slated to be finished in late 2011 or early 2012 and construction has reached the 30th story.
“Let me now say that there is no problem with our project,” he said, declining to discuss the market.
“The project is still the same as when we started,” he said.
Sung Bonna, president of Bonna Realty, said concerns about the market will continue among smaller developers, but he expected larger projects that are underway such as Gold Tower and Phnom Penh Tower to continue.
“Some developers are still concerned about the demand and about their requirement because the demand is still small,” he said, characterizing the lack of demand as a short term result of the economic crisis.
“For the future we are not concerned, but for the moment we are concerned the size of the demand for the projects,” he said.
