This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:06 p.m. on Jun. 15, 2026.
Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust Co. (KOREIT) is moving to sell the Boryung Building in Jongno District, Seoul. It has been two years since it acquired the asset in Jul. 2024. The company had planned to hold it for around five years before selling, but with investor sentiment recovering in the central business district (CBD) office market in Seoul, it moved for an early exit.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 15th, Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust Co. (KOREIT) is pushing to sell the Boryung Building it holds through "K-One No. 26 Jongno Office Trust-Managed Real Estate Investment Company (REITs)." The board recently approved the sale plan. It is said to have sent out requests for proposal (RFP) to domestic and overseas real estate consulting firms and accounting firms and begun the process of selecting a sale manager.
The Boryung Building is an office asset with a total floor area of 30,600 square meters, located at 136 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno District, Seoul. Completed in 1993, it has seven underground floors and 18 above-ground floors. Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust Co. (KOREIT) acquired the asset for about 160 billion won in Jun. 2024.
The transaction proceeded as a sale and leaseback structure in which the Boryung Group sold its headquarters building and then leased it back for a long term. Boryung Holdings secured liquidity by selling the building and reinvested part of the funds into the REITs. Boryung Holdings is currently a key investor holding a 19.67% equity stake, combining common and preferred shares.
The industry sees Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust Co. (KOREIT) as moving to recover its investment now that it has completed its strategy to enhance the asset value of the Boryung Building. At the time of acquisition, the REITs set a strategy to raise the asset value through facility upgrades and operational efficiencies and then sell. In fact, in addition to the purchase price, it separately allocated more than 20 billion won, including capital expenditures (CAPEX) for environmental improvements and reserve cash, under the investment structure.
In particular, from the time of purchase, the Boryung Group structured the deal so it would master-lease more than half of the total area for seven years. Considering the transaction closing timing, about five years are estimated to remain on the lease term. As of the first quarter of this year, the REITs holding the Boryung Building earned about 1.26 billion won in rental revenue and about 1.11 billion won in management revenue; a simple annualization suggests it is generating a stable annual cash flow of about 9.5 billion won.
Recently, conditions in the Seoul office market have turned favorable. With the high interest-rate stance and subdued transaction mood that persisted through last year easing, major office transactions across key submarkets are resuming. In particular, institutional investors continue to show steady interest in core assets in the CBD that have secured high-quality tenants. Given its characteristics as a CBD office with long-term tenants, the market expects domestic institutional investors, REITs, and real estate funds to likely emerge as key bidders.