Shinsegae Property, Aman Deploy First Seoul Site—38 Floors, Cheongdam, Han River

Shinsegae Property and Aman signed a joint-venture agreement to develop Aman Seoul, a 38-storey mixed-use tower in Cheongdam, the luxury district of Gangnam overlooking the Han River. The project places Aman's first Korean hotel on a 5,000-square-meter parcel surrounded by flagship retail and condominium towers priced above ₩100 million per square meter. Shinsegae Property, the real estate development arm of Shinsegae Group, holds the land and construction mandate; Aman contributes brand equity, design supervision, and post-opening operations under a long-term management contract. No opening date or total project cost has been disclosed, though comparable Gangnam mixed-use developments with international hotel components have required ₩500 billion to ₩800 billion in capital.

The tower will contain three commercial segments: an Aman hotel with an undisclosed room count, Aman-branded residences marketed for sale, and an Aman Club membership facility offering spa, dining, and leisure amenities to residents and external subscribers. Shinsegae Property positions the site as a "landmark lifestyle destination" in a submarket where Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton operate dedicated buildings and where residential transactions in new inventory have averaged ₩120 million per square meter over the past eighteen months. Aman operates 36 properties globally, concentrated in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, and the western United States, with a stated average daily rate above $1,500 across the portfolio. The brand has not previously developed in Northeast Asia outside Japan, where it runs Aman Tokyo and the rural resort Amanemu.

The Cheongdam site sits within a cluster of high-net-worth infrastructure: Galleria Department Store's luxury wing is 400 meters south, the Cheongdam intersection of Apgujeong-ro and Dosan-daero anchors international retail 200 meters west, and Hyundai Motor Group's Global Business Center rises 600 meters north. Shinsegae Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate by revenue, controls the Shinsegae and Emart retail chains, the Chosun Hotel Seoul, and Shinsegae Property, which has delivered 12 commercial projects in Seoul since 2010, primarily department stores and office towers. The group reported consolidated revenue of ₩33.4 trillion in 2023, with property development contributing 8 percent of operating profit. Aman, majority-owned by Vladislav Doronin's OKO Group since 2014, has opened six properties in the past three years and disclosed pipeline projects in Miami, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico.

The Gangnam hotel supply has shifted toward ultra-luxury repositioning and new-build branded residences as South Korea's single-family-office population grows—47 families managed assets above ₩500 billion domestically in 2023, according to Korea Exchange data, a 19 percent increase from 2020. The Four Seasons Seoul opened in 2015, Signiel Seoul (Lotte) in 2017, and the Josun Palace Gangnam in 2020, with average published rates between ₩800,000 and ₩1.2 million for suites. None currently offer branded-residence inventory integrated with hotel facilities under one management contract. Aman's residences in Tokyo, New York, and Miami Beach have transacted at $4,000 to $7,000 per square foot in their debut years. Cheongdam residential pricing has not reached those multiples, but the gap to international comps has compressed 22 percent since 2021 as wealth managers report increased capital allocation to Korean real assets from Singaporean and Hong Kong family offices.

Operators and allocators should track three items: site-plan approval timing from the Gangnam District Office, which will disclose exact unit counts and total gross floor area, expected in the second quarter; Aman's formal sales launch for the branded residences, likely nine to twelve months before structural completion; and Shinsegae's debt or equity syndication for the project, which will confirm whether the group is self-funding or bringing in institutional co-investment. Comparable Seoul luxury hotel developments have taken 36 to 42 months from groundbreaking to opening, suggesting a 2029 debut if construction begins in 2025.

Aman's entry into Seoul follows a broader pattern: global ultra-luxury hospitality brands now treat Northeast Asia's Tier One cities as mandatory portfolio nodes rather than opportunistic expansions, and South Korean family offices have begun competing with Japanese and Singaporean capital for co-investment in those same projects.