A view of the Songdo Bio Cluster (Photo courtesy of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority)
INCHEON, Dec. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Facing a shortage of industrial land for rapidly expanding biopharmaceutical companies in Songdo International Business District, Incheon authorities are moving to reassign plots originally earmarked for public institutions and universities to accommodate additional factory space, officials said Tuesday.
The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZA) said Incheon Main Customs has agreed to relinquish a planned 32,000-square-meter site in the Songdo 11 district — originally designated for its new headquarters — so that the land can be made available to biopharma firms. The Customs office had completed basic design work for its new building but agreed to relocate to Songdo’s 5 or 7 districts at IFEZA’s request.
IFEZA is considering requiring future tenant companies to reimburse the sunk design costs associated with the original headquarters plan.
Separately, Inha University is in discussions to yield 49,500 square meters of profit-use land in the same bio-specialized zone. The university had secured the site at a price below market value — 80 percent based on development cost and 20 percent on appraised value — to support a future Songdo campus. In exchange for surrendering the parcel, the city is exploring alternative ways to support Inha’s campus development.
The push for land reallocation stems from a request by Celltrion, one of Songdo’s largest biopharma companies, which asked IFEZA for roughly 100,000 square meters to expand manufacturing operations.
Officials said that after searching Songdo’s 9th and 10th districts, no suitable sites were found, forcing negotiations with non-biotech entities holding land in the bio-specialized cluster.
A rendering of the K-Bio Lab Hub in Songdo International Business District, Yeonsu District, Incheon (Image courtesy of the Incheon Metropolitan Government)
At a city council meeting last month, IFEZA commissioner Yoon Won-seok described the Customs site as “the only viable location” after a company offered to invest 3 trillion won on the condition that more than 30,000 pyeong (99,000 square meters) be secured.
Authorities are reviewing whether to package the Customs lot and adjacent land into a larger offering for Celltrion and other biopharma firms. But officials emphasized that no final decision has been made, noting that Celltrion is also pursuing expansion in the United States, and that interagency negotiations remain incomplete. Some critics argue that transferring land directly to Celltrion could be construed as preferential treatment.
As a result, IFEZA is expected to require a competitive bidding or public solicitation process before allocating any newly assembled land to biopharma tenants.
“Interagency consultations over land provision have not yet been finalized,” an IFEZA official said. “We will determine whether to supply the land to biopharma companies after assessing conditions.”
Songdo is already home to Samsung Biologics, Samsung Bioepis and Celltrion, with Lotte Biologics and SK Bioscience preparing to move in. The district’s current biopharmaceutical production capacity stands at 1.04 million liters, the largest in the world based on projects under construction, and could reach 2.14 million liters by 2030 if planned factory expansions proceed as scheduled.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
