Just west of Seoul Station, the country's main rail gateway, the skyline of office towers gives way to something entirely different. Aging homes crowd a steep hillside, and narrow alleys barely wide enough for a single car still wind through the neighborhood. Fire trucks struggle to get in. Despite sitting directly next to Seoul Station, the Seogye and Cheongpa neighborhoods in Yongsan District have long been passed over by development. Now several redevelopment projects there are moving forward at once, setting the area up to become a new residential district of more than 6,500 homes.
The Cheongpa District 1 redevelopment association filed for integrated review with the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 11th, according to the redevelopment industry on the 13th. Cheongpa District 1, which won approval to establish its association in February 2023, selected Daewoo Engineering & Construction as its contractor last year and signed a 355.6 billion won main construction contract in August. The complex will consist of seven buildings with 697 units, running from six basement levels to 25 floors above ground. The complex has been proposed to be named "Louiris Summit," applying Summit, Daewoo Engineering & Construction's high-end brand.
Along with Cheongpa District 1, redevelopment projects across Seogye and Cheongpa are moving one after another into the association-formation and permitting stages, preparing to redraw the entire residential map west of Seoul Station. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, six private redevelopment projects are under way in the area, including Fast Track Integrated Planning redevelopment and Moa Town projects. Excluding Cheongpa District 3, where the planned unit count has not been finalized, the five remaining sites are expected to supply about 6,500 homes. Projects under way include the Seogye Integrated District (2,691 units), Cheongpa District 2 (1,905 units), Cheongpa District 1, the Seoul Station area redevelopment and the Moa Town project at 116 Seogye-dong. If Cheongpa District 3, the latest entrant, also secures a confirmed redevelopment plan, the Seogye and Cheongpa area is expected to be reshaped into a large-scale new residential district of roughly 8,000 homes.
The largest project in the area is the Seogye Integrated District around 33 Seogye-dong. The plan calls for apartment buildings of up to 39 floors with 2,691 units on a site of more than 110,000 square meters, and it received approval to establish its association in July. It is one of the closest residential areas to Seoul Station, yet 87% of its homes are aging and the elevation difference within the district reaches as much as 40 meters, making it a textbook hillside site. The elevated Gyeongbu Line tracks cut it off from the east side of Seoul Station, and with many narrow and broken road links, the area has long been seen as having a residential environment far below what its location would suggest.
The Seogye Integrated District, which had struggled to advance redevelopment because of weak project economics, became the first beneficiary of the city's deregulation. In 2024, the Seoul Metropolitan Government applied its "recognition of existing floor area ratio" system there for the first time. The baseline floor area ratio for Class 1 general residential zones, which account for about half the district, was raised to 190% from 150%, and the average baseline ratio for the entire district rose about 27%. As a result, the city estimated that the number of units available for sale would rise by 58 from the earlier public-review plan and that the estimated contribution per association member would fall by an average of about 32 million won.
Cheongpa District 2, located between Seoul Station and Namyeong Station, is close behind. The project covers about 82,000 square meters around 89-18 Cheongpa-dong 1-ga and calls for 20 buildings with 1,905 units, running from two basement levels to 25 floors above ground. Selected in 2021 as a first-round candidate site for Fast Track Integrated Planning, it was designated a redevelopment district in October 2024 and completed association approval in June. By choosing a publicly supported direct-establishment route that skips a preparatory committee, it won approval just 12 days after applying.
As the projects gather pace, redevelopment expectations are showing up in the prices of aging villas — low-rise multi-unit homes, distinct from luxury villas. In the Seogye Integrated District, a villa with 39 square meters of land share and 43 square meters of floor space is currently listed at 1.4 billion won, or about 120 million won per 3.3 square meters of land share. In Cheongpa District 2, a villa with a 26-square-meter land share is asking 790 million won, while in Cheongpa District 1 a low-rise multi-unit home with a 64-square-meter land share is listed at 1.55 billion won and a multi-unit home with a 79-square-meter share at 1.95 billion won. An official at a brokerage in Seogye-dong said properties outside the redevelopment zones go for about 80 million won per 3.3 square meters, meaning redevelopment areas command roughly 40% more even in adjacent locations. "Even with similar age and location, prices top 100 million won when there is an expectation of receiving the right to move into an apartment," the official said.
The biggest advantage of Seogye and Cheongpa is Seoul Station itself. Residents can use subway lines 1 and 4, the Gyeongui-Jungang Line, the Airport Railroad and the GTX-A line, and the area is close to downtown business districts such as Gwanghwamun. But the low-rise housing that formed as people moved to Seoul during the industrialization of the 1960s remained largely intact for decades, leaving the neighborhood unable to reap the benefits of development around Seoul Station. The city plans to redevelop Seogye and Cheongpa through Fast Track Integrated Planning and Moa Town projects to create what it calls the flagship residential district west of Seoul Station.
The living environment is expected to change well beyond simply building new apartment complexes. The Seogye Integrated District plans an east-west green and pedestrian corridor connecting Cheongpa-ro and Mallijae-ro, along with a north-south pedestrian corridor linking Seoullo 7017 to Hyochang Park. To overcome elevation differences of up to 40 meters, elevators, ramps and other multilevel pedestrian facilities will be installed, along with parks, libraries, public dormitories and other community infrastructure. An official in the redevelopment industry said expectations are high that as the aging neighborhood west of Seoul Station, long cut off by narrow alleys and hills, turns into a large apartment district, an urban living zone will take shape in which offices, retail and housing interlock around Seoul Station.
A "Coex of Northern Seoul" Is Coming as Malli-dong Prices Near 2.3 Billion Won
Seoul Station North Area Development Picks Up Speed
Apartment prices in Malli-dong and Jungnim-dong in Jung District, which border the Seogye-dong area of Yongsan District where redevelopment is in full swing, are rising quickly. Excellent access to Seoul Station and proximity to downtown business districts such as Gwanghwamun and City Hall have put the area's live-and-work appeal in the spotlight. In Malli-dong in particular, where new apartments have gone up through redevelopment, prices for 84-square-meter units have topped 2 billion won and approached 2.3 billion won, while in Jungnim-dong an older complex more than 20 years past move-in has broken through 1.8 billion won to set a record high. As large projects nearby become reality — including the mixed-use development of the Seoul Station north area, dubbed the "Coex of northern Seoul" — the neighborhood is being reassessed as a place to live.
An 84-square-meter unit at Seoul Station Central Xi traded at 2.29 billion won last month, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system on the 14th. As recently as August last year, the same size was still changing hands in the 1.9 billion won range, but it has jumped well past 2 billion won in a year. The 1,341-unit complex, completed in 2017 through the Malli District 2 redevelopment, is the area's flagship large development. Nearby Seoul Station Halla Vivaldi Central is also trending higher. Its 84-square-meter units have recently traded up to the 1.9 billion won range, closing in on the 2 billion won mark. Completed in 2018 through the Malli District 1 redevelopment, both complexes are prime examples of low-rise neighborhoods transformed into new apartment districts.
In Jungnim-dong, Samsung Cyber Village is leading gains. An 84-square-meter unit changed hands at 1.85 billion won in August for a record high. That compares with 1.55 billion to 1.6 billion won in September last year, a rise of 250 million to 300 million won in a year. Even as an older 712-unit complex completed in 2001, it draws strength from having both Seoul Station and the City Hall-Gwanghwamun district within easy reach. Nearby Brownstone Seoul has also seen prices rise recently, led by larger units, pulling up the broader market in Jungnim-dong. Buyers appear to be targeting large complexes with good downtown access regardless of whether they are new.
Industry watchers cite downtown live-and-work convenience, the scarcity of large complexes and expectations for development around Seoul Station as the drivers of price gains in Malli-dong and Jungnim-dong. Analysts say that as nearby development plans become reality — with the long-stalled Seoul Station north area project breaking ground in 2024 — an area once seen only as a business and transport hub is being reassessed as a residential district. Scheduled for completion in 2029, the Seoul Station north area development will include MICE facilities with capacity for more than 2,000 people, along with offices and hotels. Easy access to major business districts including Gwanghwamun, City Hall, Yongsan and Yeouido also underpins demand.
An official at a brokerage near Malli-dong said steady demand comes from owner-occupier buyers because new large complexes are hard to find in central Seoul and the area offers close access to both Seoul Station and Gwanghwamun. "With new apartment supply limited, well-located complexes will only become scarcer," the official said.
