JYP Entertainment scraps planned Godeok-dong headquarters in Seoul after land-use change

JYP Entertainment, the agency of groups including Twice, Stray Kids and NMIXX, said on October 8 that it has withdrawn its plan to build a new headquarters in the Godeok Biz Valley area of Godeok-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. In a statement, the company said it had held several rounds of talks with SH Corporation (서울주택도시공사), the city housing corporation, and the Gangdong District Office since April 2026, when it first learned that the use of the land in front of its site had been changed, but had finally decided to drop the project. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]

JYP said it received an official reply from SH Corporation on August 31 stating that the land-use change had no procedural problem and that restoring the land to a park was not possible. The company said that because the core conditions for the project had changed, it reviewed many factors, including the situation of rented buildings other than its current headquarters, and concluded it could no longer proceed. It said it would instead buy a building near its current headquarters in Seongnae-dong to secure and strengthen a stable working environment for staff, and would keep working with the local authorities with the Seongnae-dong building as its base. Kyunghyang Shinmun described the purchase as one of the options JYP plans to review. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]

JYP bought the site in 2023 for about 75.5 billion won. Yonhap and Dong-A Ilbo reported that it won the 10,675-square-metre plot, block 2 of the distribution and sales facility land in the Godeok-Gangil district, in a bid from SH Corporation, because its current Seongnae-dong building was too small. The planned headquarters was to have 69,259 square metres of floor space over 5 basement and 17 above-ground floors, with large practice rooms, an auditorium, offices, an 800-seat performance hall and a photo zone. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]

The dispute arose when SH Corporation changed the use of park land in front of the site to land for self-sufficiency facilities, on which high-rise buildings can be built. Newsis and Kyunghyang Shinmun put the park land at 13,261 square metres, and Newsis said it lies about 20 metres from the site. JYP objected that tall buildings in front of the headquarters could cause privacy and security problems for its artists. Newsis reported that SH Corporation did not accept JYP's objection or a proposed compromise limiting the number of floors, and Kyunghyang Shinmun said SH had put the land up for sale. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]

According to Newsis, the project passed an architectural review in 2024 and received a building permit in April this year; Kyunghyang Shinmun said construction had been due to start in the second half of this year. The building was designed by Hongik University professor Yoo Hyun-joon (유현준), who said on YouTube that the site in front had changed after the design was finished on the assumption of a park, making construction practically impossible. Kyunghyang Shinmun said he had publicly criticised SH and the Seoul city government. JYP moved to Gangdong-gu in June 2018; Newsis reported it bought the Seongnae-dong building that year for about 20.2 billion won. [ 1 , 3 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]