Interview: Mr. Ian Thomas, Chairman of Thomas Consultants

Thomas Consultants Inc. is a consulting firm that specializes in providing optimal retail development strategies for: Retail Projects and Shopping Centers; Downtown Retail Precincts; Resort Retailing and Master Planning; Airports and Cruise Ship Facilities, as well as Transit Nodes and other large-scale Mixed-Use Development.
Thomas Consultants‘ head office is based in Vancouver, Canada, with additional offices in both Korea and Australia. The firm is recognized as a leader in the strategic planning of retail facilities in a wide range of project types, including shopping centers, street retail districts, resort villages, master-planned communities, urban entertainment centers, airport and cruise ship terminals, and transit-oriented development projects.
The firm is currently engaged in major retail planning assignments in over 50 countries around the world. Through its international project exposure and Chairman Ian Thomas’ leading role in the International Council of Shopping Centers’ Annual International Design & Development Awards, the company has the ability to share global innovations and leading edge concepts with its clients. This allows its clients, who include the world’s leading shopping center developers, owners, operators and designers, to adopt the most current ideas and strategies and ensure success in their retail projects.
The company is also affiliated with Brisbane-based Foresight Partners, who specialize in economic and development advisory services in the Australia and New Zealand region. Its firms collaborate to provide clients specialized expertise and strategic input on a variety of real estate development issues.
Thomas Consultants has been instrumental in adding value to numerous key retail, entertainment, resort and mixed use projects around the world. Its input as Development Strategists is particularly relevant during the planning process, where the company ensures that such a development, with its key retail, entertainment and food/beverage elements, is not only truly matched to the market and so works optimally in practice, but also includes the points of difference that are critical for success in today’s competitive environment.
Identifying the most appropriate market niches, opportunities and sizing for these strategic elements is imperative. In addition, we take this strategic vision right down to a detailed tenant mix plan, as well as identifying the most appropriate retailers and operators for each of the project’s major components or zones. This creates a blueprint for guiding the leasing team in securing official interest from target retail, entertainment, and food & beverage tenants. Thomas Consultants are not agents, but work on a very complementary basis with most major leasing firms. Our exposure to leading edge developers (many are our clients) is instrumental in identifying new retail concepts and formats.
Mr. Ian Thomas, Chairman of Thomas Consultants, sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and its Educational Foundation in New York. Through this vehicle the company has exposure and contact to a myriad of international retail operators, developers and investors. He also is the Chairman of ICSC’s International Design & Development Awards which evaluates and judges the world’s best new shopping centers. With this background and international network, the firm experiences leading edge ideas first hand.
In an exclusive interview, Ian Thomas noted that Korea is now a major focus for the firm. Thomas Consultants Korea is a major office where it employs a staff of approximately 20 professionals. Its client base is wide and varied and includes such major institutions as: Daewoo Motor Sales Co.; Doosan Construction; Dosi and Saram; GS Retail; Hyundai Corporation; Lotte Group; Samsung Group; Shinsegae Group; SK Group; and Taubman Asia.
At Thomas Consultants, we pride ourselves on creating unique strategies that assist our clients in realizing the greatest value from their development opportunity. By incorporating the latest principles in place making and master planning, we help the world’s leading developers, architects and urban planners craft innovative strategies that allow them to create unique points of difference necessary to thrive in today’s competitive environment,” he said.
He said the company realizes that the retail industry is in a constant state of transformation. New retail concepts are continually being introduced at a dizzying pace. Through its international exposure, the company is able to share the latest ideas and trends that are being introduced worldwide.
Undoubtedly one of the major changes in the retail industry is the diffusion of lifestyle concepts through the market. Open air lifestyle centers are rapidly being adopted on a global scale and their introduction has brought a major shift in consumer expectations. Thomas Consultants has been at the forefront of this change and today the vast majority of our work involves planning strategies for multi-purpose and mixed-use destinations.
We are actively engaged in assignments that propose new open air lifestyle centers, urban entertainment centers, downtown revitalization projects, mixed use town centers and transit oriented developments. The exposure to such a wide variety of project types, in both mature and emerging markets, enables us to leverage our expertise in creating living, breathing retail environments that are at the heart of livable and sustainable communities.”
Since the company’s inception over 30 years ago, it has continually been at the forefront of creating retail development strategies for recreational destinations. The resort retail industry has experienced a boom in recent years as developers are looking beyond residential property and recreational infrastructure development to diversify their revenue streams.
Thomas Consultants continues to push the boundaries on the resort front by helping our clients find innovative strategies that create truly special places. With a long list of leading beach, golf, and ski resort clients around the world, we have the experience and expertise to make your resort retail development stand the test of time,” he said.
In addition to its core consulting services, Thomas Consultants also has the ability to produce in-house marketing documents. These promotional documents empower our clients to maximize their new development’s exposure by communicating the key project highlights through a visually effective medium. Customized content including charts, tables and graphics can also be created and tailored to lend an extra degree of professionalism to the document.
Our tailored promotional documents are designed to efficiently communicate the development opportunity and have helped many of our clients attract prospective retailers and/or joint development partners.”
Through decades of research, the company has assembled an extensive library of research materials including project profiles on many of the leading retail centers around the world, he noted.
Speaking on the impact of the global economic crisis, he noted that the whole world has been affected by the financial meltdown. However, countries like the representing BRIC and Korea are quickly emerging from this crisis – in fact, several have come through almost unscathed. An excellent barometer is retail sales volume and with department store sales growing by almost 8% in the last quarter, it demonstrates the optimism and robust nature of the Korean consumer.
The shopping center industry has been around for 60 years. Tried and proven principles have emerged on how to develop a truly successful center. The world is rapidly globalizing, particularly accentuated by the expansion of major international retailers into new countries and sub-markets. As such, a global development platform is emerging. If Korea hopes to attract significant foreign direct investment, it must follow the global principles of development,” he said.
On the opportunities for Korea, he noted that the country is strategically located to participate in the overall boom occurring in the Asian region. With the exception of Japan, most Asian countries are enjoying strong growth, particularly China. Some of these economies have been somewhat self-contained, eg. India, but with greater prosperity occurring there is greater resulting fluidity as well. Korea has a real opportunity to participate in this upswing dynamic,” he said.

Read more »

Interview: Mr. Kim Sung-Hwan, Senior Secretary to the President for Foreign Affairs & National Security

The inauguration of Mr. Lee Myung-bak as President in February 2008 represented a significant shift in South Korea's foreign policy. Since then, the government has pursued a “pragmatic” foreign policy based on strengthening relationships with key regional powers and promoting conditional engagement with North Korea, while also enhancing South Korea’s role in the international community.

The seven point doctrine of the present administration can be characterized as: Complete denuclearization and opening of North Korea; Pragmatic diplomacy based on a national consensus; Strengthening of the ROK-U.S. alliance; Expansion of Asia diplomacy in partnership with other regional states to move toward the opening of an Asian era; Contribution to the global community as the world's 12th economy and a mature, responsible nation; Energy diplomacy to join the group of most advanced economic nations; and Cultural diplomacy to capitalize Korea's soft power through mutual opening and exchanges in the region and the world.

In an exclusive interview, Mr. Kim Sung-Hwan, Senior Secretary to the President for Foreign Affairs & National Security explained about the foreign policy orientation of the present government. Excerpts:

-The Lee Myung-bak administration is actively pursuing a foreign policy vision: “Global Korea”. In order to realize the vision, the administration has stepped up its efforts to contribute to global peace and prosperity with focus on easing financial difficulties, combating terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), climate change and other global challenges. Hosting a G20 summit in Seoul this November and strengthening its contributions to the international efforts to rebuild Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq are good examples of the administration’s such efforts.

On North Korea, the administration is committed to building up mutual trust and common prosperity in inter-Korean relations through dialogues with a firm belief that the two Koreas should fully cooperate on a wide array of agenda including North Korea’s nuclear issue, not only on economic issues.

The Lee Myung-bak administration will continue to work with the international community to bear fruit in its efforts to advance the Global Korea vision built on what it has achieved.

-Despite the previous administrations’ efforts, as you pointed out,the inter-Korean relations did not see any significant improvement mainly due to the lack of North Korea’s cooperation. Particularly, the nuclear issue remains unresolved although the Republic of Korea, in cooperation with the international community, has tried to deal with the issue over the past two decades.

Considering this, the Lee Myung-bak administration places a top priority on the nuclear issues and persistently pursues the resolution of the issue through dialogues between the two Koreas and with other participating countries in the Six-Party Talks, which has been a main venue for negotiations. The administration’s initiative, the so-called “Grand Bargain”, is to address the nuclear issue in such a comprehensive way that North Korea will be able to get a broad range of benefits, ranging from economic assistance to security guarantee, once it makes a strategic decision to abandon its nuclear programs.

As President Lee puts it, peace has to be maintained to realize reconciliation and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula. The Republic of Korea and North Korea, as two directly involved parties of the Peninsula, should work together to address all pending issues, including the nuclear issue, through sincere and candid dialogue. The Lee administration will continue to seek ways to bring North Korea back to the dialogue table and to hammer out solutions on the pending issues in close cooperation and consultation with the international community.

-As the FTA provides a wider interface between the two sides, I am sure, the industries of Korea and Europe will be and must be more interconnected in all aspects of their activities. In additions, the FTA will also bring EU investors not only more opportunities but also better protection and effective safeguards. It is high time for EU investors to explore and expand their partnership with their counterparts in Korea. In case they should come across any room for further improvement, in terms of government regulations or local practices affecting transaction costs, any proposal or suggestion from business community is always welcomed by the Korean Government.

Read more »

Rascal, the ugliest dog in the world

Rascal won the title of ugliest dog Sunday at the 15th annual Ugly Dog Contest at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in California. His owner boasts that Rascal is the 'world's ugliest dog.'
I am sure my four dogs will love this video and laugh their heads off. Have to show it to them tonight!

Read more »

HP Slate takes on iPad

Even as I am excitedly waiting for the iPad to go on sale, i was caught unawares by the news that HP is ready with its own version of a tablet called Slate that will run Windows 7 operating system and support Flash. While the above videos that the company released looks promising, one will have to wait and see. I have never been a fan of the windows OS and am pretty sure that I will settle for the iPad. Just hope that the HP tablet does not keep crashing as frequently as the desktop/laptop versions!

Read more »

Interview: Ms. Regina Lee, General Manager, Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management

Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management, headquartered in Seoul, is a joint venture between Shinhan Financial Group and the French financial group, BNP Paribas. It is the fruit of an eight-year-old partnership between one of the three largest Korean financial groups and the largest euro-zone bank by assets.

In January 2009, Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management was created when Shinhan BNP Paribas Investment Trust Management and SH Asset Management merged. Shinhan BNP Paribas Investment Trust Management was created in 1996 as Shinhan Investment Trust Management and in 2002 the name changed to Shinhan BNP Paribas when BNP Paribas acquired a 50% stake.
As noted by Ms. Regina Lee, General Manager, Real Estate Investment Team, the joint venture is currently ranked third in the Korean asset management market which is crowded with over 60 players, and has 34 trillion won worth of assets under management.
She pointed out that the Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. was incorporated on September 1, 2001, and is Korea's first financial holding company that delivers comprehensive financial solutions through a powerful One-Portal network. Its subsidiaries offer quality financial products and services in commercial banking, corporate banking, credit card, private banking, asset management, investment banking, brokerage and insurance service.
The company has 21 offices in nine countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, China, Germany, India, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore. Currently, Shinhan Financial Group is listed on both the Korea Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange
BNP Paribas is a European leader in global banking and financial services and is one of the 4 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's. The group is present in over 85 countries, with more than 168,000 employees. The group holds key positions in three major segments: Corporate and Investment Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. Present throughout Europe in all of its business lines, the bank's two domestic markets in retail banking are France and Italy. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging markets.
“Both BNP Paribas Group and Shinhan group are trying to create synergies, so we are transferring capabilities between us. The special assets division of this company invests not just in real estate but also infrastructure and is engaged in investment finance,” she said.
Regarding real estate assets, she noted that the company owns around 1.005 trillion worth of real estate assets and ranks number 2 in terms of real estate assets alone.
“Our company started the real estate investment business back in 2006. Since 2007 we have recorded an average growth of more than 100 percent. Over the last two years the market has been quite stagnant but we were still able successfully acquire 300 billion worth assets this year and seek to increase asset size by 2 trillion won by 2012, to become the number one in the industry.”
The investments made by the company have been in prime grade A office buildings. Being very competitive assets, one can expect high capital gains and steady returns averaging 8 percent, she said.
Speaking on the strengths of the company she noted that the assets under management not just combination of number and figures but these are assets where the life stories of customers are embedded.
“We try to keep that core value in mind whenever we do our business. Many deals are concluded upon cooperation of many market participants as well as many stakeholders. So I think there should be no problem in closing deals if there is cooperation among the various participants. All the parties have different interest in mind but if they all cooperate it will be for the good. Successful deals require good people and good teams, both internal as well as external,” she said.
As for the real estate market in Korea she noted that last year was not very good, given the global economic meltdown. However, the market picked up in the second half, driven by Korea’s economic performance. This is different from other countries in the world.
One important differentiating trend in Korea is that the real estate market is driven by two segments- asset market and leasing market.
“Asset prices have increased steadily and this is because there are not many qualified tradable assets in the market. This year the decoupling between the leasing market and asset market is likely to continue for the time being.”
Negative factors in leasing market such as decline in leasing prices could also continue for the time being. In the mid to long term, this kind of trend is limited. It is not going to continue for long period of time, she said.
Ms. Lee said that the decoupling trend between the two markets is attributable to two factors. First is intensified competition from increase in market participants and second is increase in strategic investors who have relatively smaller expected returns.
Last year 20 players such as asset custodians entered the market this helped intensify the competition in the market. Assets prices were driven by such stiff competition in the process. This could result in formation of assets prices that do not fully reflect the true value of assets.
“As I said earlier the asset prices were also driven by increase in strategic investors, but this type of trend should only be limited to high quality assets. This year the financial market appears to be conservative to real estate market, so this year I think it should be an increase in distressed projects.” This is because of decrease in funding sources and deterioration in asset values, delays in projects and increase in capital costs , uncertainties in leasing market (construction may be cancelled etc.) Increased needs to find financial needs for this kind of distressed assets offers good investment opportunities if we can design a good deal structure and find strong deals. Market competition is going to get fiercer but this should only be limited to the primary business of buying and selling assets so there should be some changes in the industry, she said.
Another characteristic trend, she noted is that the real estate market has to businesses-Primary business of buying and selling real estate space and the secondary business of adding value to these spaces. She expects to find new business opportunities in the secondary business.
“So I would like to personally refer to this as a shift from the primary to secondary business in the real estate industry. Until now market participants were engaged in competition in the primary business, but in the future we should increase competitiveness in the secondary business of real estate. We cannot call it as the main trend but it should be,” Ms. Lee said.
Until now office buildings took the majority of real estate investment because the infrastructure was in place. Not just investment itself but also the services that manage the investment. If the shift from primary to secondary does occur then the investment which focused on residential and office buildings should now shift to industrial buildings. Value can be generated from services that can arise from these real estate assets, she noted.
Comparing Korean real estate market with other countries in the region she noted that every real estate market depends on the industries that are developed in the country. So if we talk about real estate of certain countries we should look at industries of that region first.
“The Japanese market over the last ten years has seen the bubble bursting and industries suffer from deterioration of competitiveness. The real estate market can only move in tandem with industry of that country. So the Japanese market may have some weaknesses. The demographic terms the country’s competitiveness also deteriorated as well. However due to economic strength of Japan there should be steady demand for high quality assets.”
She also noted that a lot of investors are interested in Chinese and Indian market and a lot of studies are going on about their growth potential. But when it comes to making investment decisions one should have a look at the infrastructure in these countries.
The Korean market has become open to foreign investment over the past ten years and has sufficient infrastructure for real estate business. The industries are growing in competitiveness, so the Korean market can be a good platform for investors who want to invest in emerging markets. Moroever there is a very low vacancy rate over past ten years and the leasing fee has not changed substantially.
Although last year, many foreign investors disposed a lot of assets for liquidity, this year they will return, she predicted

Read more »

Linux Mint- a fantastic alternative to Windows

I have never been a fan of Windows and found the outdated capabilities of the operating system an annoyance. For this reason, I stopped using my desktop computer at home (with Windows OS) and switched over to an iMac 2 years ago. Prior to that I had also bought a Macbook for my girlfriend and found that the learning curve was really not as steep as people made it out to be.

Slowly but surely I got infatuated with my Mac and have never looked back since. Although, I still use Windows at work, since this is Korea, and there is no way out  ! Moreover since my girlfriend needs to use Internet Explorer for all her banking needs I resultantly partitioned my iMac to install Windows 7.
This arrangement works beautifully for me. I use the Mac OS part while my girlfriend uses the Windows section. However, I couldn’t but help notice my old desktop gathering dust in a corner. So I decided to make better use of it, and bought an S-cable to hook it up to my 42 inch TV to watch streaming video. The only problem was that my computer kept crashing (which, while not surprising, was really very frustrating).
Last Sunday, I finally got fed up with the blue screen of death and decided to try out the GNU/Linux variants. This was not my first attempt at installing Linux on my computer, having done so a couple of years ago. At that time, I gave up because of the steep learning curve. This time however, my internet research showed that many of the Linux distros have advanced GUI capabilities, with many more software options. So finally I narrowed down on 3 distros- Ubuntu , Linux Mint and Mandriva . I would have loved to try Red Star, but couldn't find it anywhere ;)
Anyway, I installed all the three of them (takes just 20 minutes to install), one at a time to test out the different capabilities and then decided to stick with Linux Mint.
Originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs, it has now developed into one of the most user-friendly distributions on the market - complete with a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, a web-based package installation interface, and a number of different editions. Perhaps most importantly, this is one project where the developers and users are in constant interaction, resulting in dramatic, user-driven improvements with every new release.
Some of the key advantages of Linux Mint are:

•It's one of the most community driven distributions. You could literally post an idea in the forums today and see it implemented the week after in the "current" release. Of course this has pros and cons and compared to distributions with roadmaps, feature boards and fixed release cycles we miss a lot of structure and potentially a lot of quality, but it allows us to react quickly, implement more innovations and make the whole experience for us and for the users extremely exciting.

•It is a Debian-based distribution and as such it is very solid and it comes with one of the greatest package managers.

•It is compatible with and uses Ubuntu repositories. This gives Linux Mint users access to a huge collection of packages and software.

•It comes with a lot of desktop improvements which make it easier for the user to do common things.

•There is a strong focus on making things work out of the box (WiFi cards drivers in the file system, multimedia support, screen resolution, etc).

As this blogger states- “Simple: The derivative is better.”

I would highly recommend it to anyone who if fed up of Windows, but afraid to switch over to the Mac. Best of all, it is free!

Read more »

Interview: Mr. Lee Han-soo, Mayor of Iksan City

The world's major countries are paying increasing attention to the new value of the food industry. North European countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands established a food cluster to create new national wealth. Particularly in Sweden and Denmark, the Oresund food cluster created more than 60,000 new jobs, while creating yearly sales of about $48 billion.
The Oresund cluster houses a variety of food manufacturers, including the globally-renowned brewer Carlsberg, sugar maker Danisco, and Novozymes, a specialist in enzymes for food processing. Plus it also accommodates food-related companies, including the world’s largest milk pack manufacturer TetraPak and packaging specialist Reksam. Unilever and Nestle also run their own R&D centers in the Oresund food cluster.
Under this backdrop, Korea is also developing its food industry into a high value and promising future industry. A food cluster is under construction in Iksan in North Jeolla Province to be used as a forward base to promote Korea’s food exports in collaboration with the Saemangeum project.
The government is injecting 580 billion won over the next five years. The plan calls for both state and private funds to be used to set up a so-called national food cluster, to be completed by 2015. Another "HUB" in the making ;)

I interviewed Mr. Lee Han-soo, Mayor of Iksan City  to probe further.

I think that attracting the foreign investment is the key element to facilitate the national food cluster in Iksan.

We agreed to promote Iksan national food cluster through participating in SIAL 2010 Food Expo, where we will operate the food pavilion, and also hold a CEO forum for foreign invested food companies to develop the strategies to attract the investment.

The event is a global marketplace for all those involved in the food industry (retail, trade, manufacturing, catering professions, services). SIAL is where business and innovation meets. This year it will be held from October 17th to 21st at Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte, Paris. More than 185 visitor countries and 101 exhibitor countries are expected to participate

-The main goal is to become the hub of food industry in Northeast Asia. In order to achieve the goal, we should attract businesses to the cluster, and improve the standard of the technology in food industry.

The most of advanced countries try to dominate the food market in advance via aggressive investment. Thus we should continue to promote the cluster in an efficient and feasible way to become the capital of world food market. Besides, we will try to secure the national budget to attract investments so we will be able to focus on the target region and companies who have an intention to invest in the national food cluster. At the same time I would like to stress that national food cluster will be equipped with comprehensive R&D infrastructure which will improve the productivity of occupants.

-We offer various kinds of incentives for the foreign investors such as start-up assistance and support for the local transfers, employment settlement subsidy, workforce training subsidy, and etc.

With regard to the benefits of investors we are planning to develop strategies such as designation of economic free trade zone and foreign investment zone within the national food cluster hence we will be able to offer more feasible incentives to foreign investors since legal basis just has been prepared for national food cluster due to the amendment of ‘Food Industry Promotion Act’.

-In the national food cluster, ‘Food Quality Safety Management Center’, ‘Food Function Evaluation Center’, and ‘Food Packaging Center’ will be built as core R&D institutions, which will bring high-added value to the food production and processing within the cluster. The main function of each center is as follows:

1. Food Quality Safety Management Center

- The center will execute the safety and quality test for the food produced in the area which is the requirement for the export, and also offer the various consulting services

2. Food Function Evaluation Center

- The center will carry out the analysis for food, food material and functionality assessment to add a high value to the product.

3. Food Packaging Center

The center will focus on the technical development related to the design, environment-friendly packaging, and prototype food packaging.

The R&D based national food cluster which is export-oriented will be fostered as the hub for the Northeast Asia food market.

-Iksan city ensures comfortable and pleasant residential environment for investors and employees moving to live in Iksan city. Iksan city is a government-designated women-friendly city, an attractive and hopeful land of dream as a future education city with Jeonbuk University, Wonkwang University and Jeonbuk Science High School and Education Institutes nearby.

Furthermore, numerous food-related companies such as Harim, Orion and Samyang, etc. have their presence in the region. It is a safe city with virtually no natural disasters, and a comfortable and convenient city to live in with advanced social infrastructure in the areas of education, medicine, culture, and residence, etc.

-The national food cluster in Iksan is ready to secure national budget due to the completion of feasibility analysis, and legal basis is prepared by the amendment of ‘Food Industry Promotion Act’. In addition the official name of the national food cluster project is recently determined as ‘Foodpolis’ which means a food city.  I would like to ask investors for continuous interest and support for the ‘Foodpolis’, future hub for the Northeast food market.

Read more »

Japanese Sitting Dog

From here:

Ban, a dog from Ibaraki prefecture, baffled its owners when it showed off its street loitering look. Thus, the clever dog jumps onto the outside wall and sits astride the ledge, whilst peering around at the neighborhood.

The wall, it’s seemingly favorite perching spot, is a chest-high structure running along the perimeter of the owner’s house. According to Ban’s bemused owners, no one taught the nifty trick to her.

They assume that the dog was tired of the lack of space inside the house and thereby, devised a way to mount walls. They also believed that this position probably appealed to Ban as it provided her with a better vantage point of the area. In this way, Ban, the sitting dog, has been straddling ledges for one year now.

Read more »

International Finance Center, Seoul

When completed, the International Finance Centre (IFC) Seoul is slated to be the city's leading business destination. The 5.4 million square feet development features three A-grade office towers, a five-star hotel and a three-level luxury mall which will add a new landmark to the city's skyline. The IFC Seoul project is one of the first large-scale real estate developments in Korea to be led by an international consortium. The project, which was officially launched in 2005, is a key component in the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s plan to rejuvenate the Yeouido area and to position the area as a regional financial center, creating employment opportunities and raising the quality of life for local residents.
The master plan for IFC Seoul includes three premium commercial office towers, a five-star hotel, three-level luxury retail mall, multiplex cinema complex, fine dining, and significant new public outdoor spaces and the Seoul subway transportation system.
The project design includes four above-ground towers of crystalline appearance, three of them in the southern, western and northern corners of the site, and one positioned close to the center’s northeastern perimeter that will dominate the Yeouido skyline.
To the south will be the 29-story Two IFC office tower, which will offer some 79,000 square meters of floor space; to the west will be the 32-story One IFC with 88,000 square meters, while the northern corner will be reserved for a 450- guestroom, 38-story five-star hotel. The structure on the northeastern side of the project, Three IFC, will be 55 stories in height and, with a total office space of 160,000 square meters, will be the largest structure in the complex.
The development is the result of a unique collaboration between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and AIG Global Real Estate, which acts as the developer, finance arranger and project manager. The landmark project is expected to be completed in phases through 2012. The first phase of the IFC Seoul project, which will include the retail mall, a five-star luxury hotel, and the One International Finance Centre Seoul commercial office tower, is expected to open in mid 2011.
To learn more about the project, I caught up with Mr. Jim Kohlhoff, Vice President / Property Management and Mr. James Tyrrell, Director of Office Leasing, AIG Investments, AIG Korean Real Estate Development YH.
AIG Korean Real Estate Development YH, a member company of American International Group, Inc., is a part of AIG Global Real Estate, a group of international real estate companies that actively invests in and manages real estate for clients and AIG member companies in over more than 50 countries around the world. AIG Global Real Estate owns, manages, or has under development approximately $24 billion in equity in more than 53 million square feet of all property types in major global markets.
Mr. Kohlhoff noted that taking advantage of Seoul's growing importance as a regional financial and business center IFC Seoul offers corporations a compelling mix of world-class commercial real-estate and a cosmopolitan lifestyle.
He pointed out that the project is located in the heart of Yeouido, with immediate access to major transportation systems and just next to the Han River. It is the first large scale project to come up in Yeouido since the nineties. After the initial development of the financial business district, no sites have been cleared, even as development took place in Gangnam and CBD area.
“This development is the dawn of a new era. Especially, since it will be an integrated project with quality office space, prestige hotel and shopping mall. It will be an international blend of property uses, which has never been done here before.”
The Shopping Mall is expected to attract the world’s leading luxury brands to its easily accessible and visually striking location. In addition to serving the area’s 150,000 office workers and the 6.4 million people living within a ten-kilometer radius of the project, the mall will also be an outstanding amenity for the residents of the five-star hotel and for the 25,000 future workers within the three planned office towers in IFC Seoul.
Such a concept is not found anywhere in Seoul. While the COEX mall in Gangnam does try to provide such facilities, it is still fragmented and does not gel together in one package. It was also build in the eighties, and the technology has vastly improved since then. The IFC Seoul project will take it to the next level
“Our project will take Korea into the next decade, and add vibrancy to Yeouido as a location. People who relocate here will experience a different lifestyle that is very unique and international in standard.”
Mr. Kohlhoff said that the Gangnam business district has built itself out and there are no empty sites left. At the same time it is very congested, unlike Yeouido. The IFC Seoul project will provide excellent facilities in a modern environment which will appeal to both office goers and office tenants.
Connectivity to other business districts is also excellent. Seouls’ amazing subway system connects Yeouido to Gwanghwamun in less than 15 minutes, with the new line No. 9 providing express shuttle to Gangnam area in about 12 minutes.
The key challenge, he noted is to get the tenants and to show them that IFC Seoul offers a different customer experience that is different from Gangnam and CBD. It will appeal to people looking for a more interactive lifestyle.
Speaking on competition from the other different projects that are under development, Mr. Tyrrell said that each offers something different. Songdo City for example is not located within the Seoul area, and needs to have more residential density before it really catches on as a pure office location. This could take anywhere between another 5 to 10 years. IFC Seoul on the other hand is already situated in the business district and the advantages that it offers are unmatched.
Now tenants have a lot of choice, which they did not have in the past. Currently Seoul’s commercial office market lacks large areas of contiguous floor space. Even large Korean conglomerates find that their headquarter office space is spread around the city and, for expanding international companies in Seoul, the difficulty of obtaining space to grow is significant. The IFC Seoul project is designed to accommodate the requirements of major industry tenants.
While Yeouido at present is regarded as a financial district, many more non-financial companies have shown keen interest to relocate to IFC Seoul. It is a very busy phase now, as pre-leasing agreements are being pursued. Traditionally building were not in a leasing phase 1 year before completion, it was always post completion, but the IFC Seoul project is being run in an international way and pre-leasing has started , as is common in global markets.
“We have a very robust infrastructure and it is very important that we offer our customers support. So while the buildings are state of the art, we are not just looking at customer support, but rather a customer experience program. Customer service is typically a reactive service, whereas customer experience is proactive,” Mr. Kohlhoff said.
IFC Seoul will also be one of the first few commercial mixed-use developments in Korea certified as a ‘Green Building’.
“The IFC Seoul development takes care to emphasize the natural beauty of the nearby Yeouido Park, one of Seoul’s most celebrated green spaces, with urban plazas, art-filled esplanades and a vast lawn. In addition, IFC Seoul is pursuing LEED certification as well as adherence to the Korean Green Building Council's recommendations,” he said.
The green features include: Photovoltaics to be used to make electricity; co-generation to be installed in the hotel to harvest heat from the generators to produce power; harvesting rainwater to supplement the flushing of toilets and irrigate the plaza; and comprehensive waste management practices to be employed.

Read more »

Korean music classes for foreigners

In case you are interested in taking Korean music classes, you should find this  interesting:

2010 Korean Music Classes for Foreigners

Period: March 06, 2010 - May 22, 2010

Place: National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, Seoul

Details

The spring semester of 2010 Korean Traditional Music Class for Foreigners starts on March 6. The program will be conducted in English and Korean (with language assistant). The instruments necessary for the lesson will be leased during the class.

1. Duration

- Mar. 6 ~ May 22 (12 weeks) / 10:30~12:30, Every Saturday

* Costumed final presentation scheduled on May 22

2. Participation Fee

- 30,000 won (covering whole 12-week course)

3. Classes

- Janggu (Hourglass-Shaped Drum)

- Janggu for children (elementary school students)

- Gayageum (12-Stringed Zither)

- Haegeum (Two-Stringed Fiddle)

- Samulnori (Percussion Quartet, Prerequisite janggu class or basic janggu skills required)

* Classes are subject to be cancelled due to insufficient participants.

4. Application

- Period : Feb. 16 ~ Mar. 4.

- First come, first served

- How to : download application form, complete it and send it to baewon76@gmail.com.

For more information and questions, feel free to contact Mr. Lee Baewon (02-580-3054, baewon76@gmail.com).

Read more »