Seoul aims to turn Yongsan IBD into world’s largest 'vertical' city

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to turn an abandoned train maintenance depot in the central district of Yongsan into the world’s largest “vertical” city centered around a 100-story international business skyscraper.

The city government on Monday unveiled the blueprint for a grandiose Yongsan International Business District (IBD) comprising three zones – international business, business complex, and residential and cultural areas.

Located on a 495,000-square-meter lot of land, the Yongsan IBD will become Seoul’s new landmark skyscraper serving as the center of a futuristic city – a property development project about 4.4 times the size of Hudson Yards, New York’s largest commercial-residential complex.

The 51.1 trillion won ($38.4 billion) project to be financed by public and private funds will feature a 1.1 km pedestrian sky bridge, called the Sky Trail, connecting nine buildings at the height of the 45th floor – a first-of-its-kind high-rise pedestrian bridge, offering a panoramic view of Seoul, according to the city government.

Extensive green spaces – the size of 11 soccer fields combined – will be created throughout the area, with 20% designated as parks.

“We’ll do whatever we can to make the Yongsan IBD the global standard for high-rise business-residential complex development,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon told a media briefing. “Through the extensive development project, we aim to turn Seoul into one of the global top five cities.”

COMPACT CITY

Seoul city officials said the new development zone will be a “compact city,” meaning access to business, residence and cultural facilities will all be within walking distance.

The city government partnered with Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) and Seoul Housing & Communities Corp. (SH Corp.) to jointly develop the area.

The ownership of the land is shared by KORAIL (72%), Korea Electric Power Corp. (5%) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (23%).

The Seoul government plans to announce and post on a government bulletin the development project details by the end of June and begin infrastructure construction in 2025.

Businesses will start moving into the Yongsan IBD in the early 2030s, officials said.

The idea of developing the unused train maintenance depot into an international business district was first unveiled in 2007 but was scrapped following the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Once the renewed Yongsan IBD development project is completed, officials said it will create 146,000 jobs and induce annual production worth 32.6 trillion won.

THREE CONNECTED ZONES

The international business zone, covering 88,557 square meters, will house a 100-story skyscraper as the city government plans to ease its zoning and floor space regulations.

The high-rise building will have hotels and so-called MICE facilities for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

Lower parts of the building will accommodate a concert hall, an art museum and a cultural complex library. At the center of the IBD area will be a symbolic sculpture like the Vessel of Hudson Yards. 

The business complex zone, covering 104,905 square meters will have an 80-story building and 48-story buildings to accommodate business support facilities.

The Sky Trail will be constructed in this zone.

The third zone, covering 95, 239 square meters, will mainly be used as a residential area.

To make the Yongsan IBD the centerpiece of Seoul’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the city government plans to build smart transportation facilities and airport railways departing from Yongsan.

The city also plans to introduce autonomous shuttle buses and urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles to transform Yongsan into Seoul’s eco-friendly transport hub.

Write to You-Jung Lee and Jin-Woo Park at yjlee@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.