Seoul to redevelop aging affluent apartment area to 50-floor complex sites

[Photo provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The aging apartment complex in Seoul’s Apgujeong-dong, the wealthy neighborhood in Gangnam District, will be allowed to be rebuilt into a high-rise complex consisting of about 11,800 units, with more than 50 floors.

If the complex adopts innovative designs, height regulations may be further relaxed, potentially giving rise to a high-rise complex with around 70 floors.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Monday that it has “finalized the rapid integration plan for the reconstruction project in Apgujeong zones 2, 3, 4, and 5” which include these measures. The city government said that the plan “will change the paradigm of housing along the Han River.”

The rapid integration plan refers to a draft development plan created jointly by the city government and the private sector. Currently, 8,443 households live in old apartments in the district that are nearly 40 years, including Miseong, Hyundai and Hanyang apartments.

Since 2016, the apartment complex has been promoting integrated reconstruction by dividing the complex into six zones. Among the zones, zones 2,3,4 and 5 started planning for reconstruction in 2021 by participating in the city government’s rapid integration plan and the blueprint for reconstruction was unveiled on Monday after two years. Zones 1 and 6 are still in the early stages of promoting reconstruction.

According to the plan, Apgujeong zones 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be transformed into a high-rise complex consisting of 11,830 units. The city government has provisionally designed the maximum height of the envisioned complex to be around 50 floors. Based on this standard, zone 2, where Shin Hyundai apartments are located, will have around 2,700 households, up from the current 1,924, and zone 3, where Gu Hyundai apartments are located, will have around 5,800 households, up from 3,946. Similarly, zone 4 will have 1,790 units, up from 1,341 units and zone 5 1540 units from 1,232 units.

The city government plans to apply height regulations more flexibly if the apartment complex adopts innovative designs. The intention is to create a complex that captures the charm of the Han River, rather than having uniform matchbox-like apartments. Some areas, including zone 3, have already started focusing on specialized designs, with opinions suggesting that one or two landmark buildings should reach a height of around 70 floors.

A pedestrian bridge connecting Apgujeong-dong to Seoul Forest, a large park in Seongsu-dong, is also in the spotlight. It will be built with 250 billion won ($192.98 million) in donations from Apgujeong zone 3. Additionally, there are plans to create a covered park on top of the Olympic-daero, an 8-lane highway, to provide easy access to the Han River from the apartment complex.