Dongjak-gu is pushing ahead with plans to relocate the Heukseok vehicle depot to improve residents' quality of life and boost the local commercial district, district mayor Ryu Sam-young announced.
The Heukseok depot, located at 172 Seodal-ro, sits on a 1,680-square-meter site and currently houses a garage for a contracted household waste collection and transport company, a rest facility for sanitation workers and a materials storage warehouse.
The facility has long drawn complaints for clashing with its surroundings due to the constant comings and goings of garbage trucks and the aging depot buildings, and has held back the area's overall value.
The site occupies a key traffic junction near Heukseok Market and a university district in a densely residential neighborhood, making it prime real estate. Residents and local advocates have consistently called for the land to be converted into a public parking lot to meet the area's unmet parking demand.
In response, the district said it will relocate the depot to idle land at the Noryangjin Environmental Support Center in September. Once the move is complete, the district plans to develop the vacated site into a ground-level public parking lot with 45 spaces, open to residents and visitors.
The sanitation workers' rest facility will be relocated separately to a leased private building in Heukseok-dong, and a new materials storage space will also be secured to ensure no disruption to waste management operations.
The district expects the relocation and new parking lot to ease the chronic parking shortage for residents and improve their living environment, while also making Heukseok Market and the nearby university district more accessible to visitors and giving the local commercial scene a boost.
"Relocating the Heukseok depot is a meaningful project that addresses a long-standing inconvenience for residents and returns this space to the community," district mayor Ryu said. "We will continue to pursue urban environment improvement projects that balance residents' needs with the broader development of the area."
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