A 24-story office building will rise in Seoul's Daechi-dong, in the Gangnam district, while the COEX complex in Samseong-dong will expand and renovate to strengthen its exhibition and convention functions. A walkway directly linking the Yeongdong-daero transfer center with COEX and an underground public passage connecting Samseong and Bongeunsa stations will also be built. The aim is to concentrate office, exhibition, convention and transport infrastructure across the Samseong-dong and Daechi-dong areas to develop southeastern Seoul into a global business and MICE hub.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 26th that its 15th Building Committee, which met on the 25th, had approved two projects: the "Daechi-dong 890-16 Office Building Construction Project" and the "Korea World Trade Center Special Planning District Expansion Project."
According to the city, an office building of about 50,000 square meters in total floor area, running from nine basement levels to 24 stories above ground, will be built on a site of about 2,760 square meters at 890-16 and 890-20 Daechi-dong. Lower floors will house exhibition space and meeting rooms for shared work and collaboration, while upper floors will hold large office spaces.
On the building's east side, facing Teheran-ro, the city will create a publicly accessible open space along with green and pedestrian areas. Seoul plans to link the existing office functions around Seolleung and Yeoksam with the international business and MICE development underway in Samseong-dong, strengthening the office and commercial functions across the Daechi and Samseong areas.
COEX in Samseong-dong will also undergo a major expansion and renovation. Part of the Korea World Trade Center — which spans 972,598 square meters in total floor area and runs from six basement levels to 54 stories above ground — will be renovated, and the exterior of the ground-level convention center will be redesigned. The project will improve aging facilities and interior spaces while realigning exhibition, convention, office, cultural and commercial functions to meet changing demand for international exhibitions and conferences.
In particular, the pedestrian and green networks around COEX will be greatly expanded. The city will create a pedestrian and green axis running from Seonjeongneung through COEX to the Tancheon walkway, and will plant trees along Yeongdong-daero to connect with the green space to be built on the ground level of the Yeongdong-daero transfer center. An urban ecological forest will be created around the Byeolmadang Library, and a multilevel plaza and a "grand stairway" linking the first floor above ground with the first basement level of the COEX Mall will be installed at the Samseong Station intersection.
The connection between the Yeongdong-daero transfer center and COEX will also be strengthened. Two new walkways directly linking the two facilities will be built, and the ground-level vehicle access route currently along Yeongdong-daero will be moved to the second basement level in conjunction with the transfer center. On the first basement level, a public passage running directly from Samseong Station to Bongeunsa Station will be created to improve pedestrian continuity through the underground spaces around COEX.
Seoul plans to link the new office building in Daechi-dong, the reorganization of COEX and the Yeongdong-daero transfer center to develop the Daechi and Samseong areas into a core hub for southeastern Seoul that combines office, MICE and transport functions. Myung No-jun, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Housing Bureau, said the project "will create a global MICE hub representing South Korea in southeastern Seoul, enhancing the city's future competitiveness," adding, "We will carefully manage the follow-up procedures after the review."
