The Hyundai Motor Group Global Business Complex (GBC) project, pursued on the former Korea Electric Power Corporation site in Samseong-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, is restarting with completion targeted for 2031.
The Seoul city government said on the 6th that it completed additional negotiations on Dec. 30 last year that began with Hyundai Motor Group's proposal to modify the GBC design.
The GBC project is to build Hyundai Motor Group's new headquarters and more on the 79,341-square-meter former KEPCO site across from COEX. Hyundai Motor Group won the bid for the site for 10.55 trillion won in 2014 and, after prior consultations with the Seoul city government in 2016, agreed to build a mixed-use complex of offices, a hotel, and cultural facilities up to 105 stories tall.
However, due to issues such as restrictions on military operations and changing conditions, Hyundai Motor Group submitted a revised plan in Feb. last year. The city and Hyundai Motor Group then negotiated by sector—including urban planning and architecture, transportation, and public contributions—and reached a final agreement to build three 49-story buildings.
Under the agreement, GBC will consist of three 49-story buildings with a maximum height of 242 meters, and will include offices, a hotel, retail, an exhibition hall, a performance hall, and other cultural facilities. Along the front facing Yeongdong-daero, a mixed cultural space with exhibition and performance halls that citizens can use freely will be created. On the lower-level rooftops, including the exhibition and performance halls (about 40 meters high), a garden of about 15,000 square meters will be built.
The exhibition hall will present hands-on, basic science-centered exhibition content in collaboration with top-tier science museums worldwide and will be adaptable for various exhibitions and conferences. The performance hall, with about 1,800 seats, will be designed to accommodate a wide range of performances, including classical music, opera, and musicals. At the top of a tower building, an observation space will be installed so citizens can take in panoramic views of landmarks such as the Han River, Tancheon, and Gangnam.
At the center of GBC, a 14,000-square-meter large urban forest will consolidate Yeongdong-daero with the ground-level plaza. Among green spaces within privately developed mixed-use complexes, it will be the largest in Korea, larger than Seoul Plaza (13,207 square meters). Combined with the ground-level plaza above Yeongdong-daero (13,780 square meters), a citizen green space twice the size of Seoul Plaza will be secured in the Gangnam urban core. Beneath the urban forest, the "Great Court," a combined consumer and cultural space linked to the underground of the Yeongdong-daero Integrated Transit Center, will be created.
The city and Hyundai Motor Group agreed to increase the total amount of public contributions from 1.7491 trillion won to 1.9827 trillion won. Separately, Hyundai Motor Group will shoulder additional portions of the International Exchange Complex district road improvement project on top of the original traffic improvement measures, including the expansion of Samseong Station and the installation of a bus transfer center.
Currently, the GBC public contribution contributed acceptance amount is being used for infrastructure construction in the International Exchange Complex district—such as the underground space complex development along Yeongdong-daero and the remodeling of Jamsil Main Stadium—as well as road improvement projects to ease traffic congestion around Samseong Station, and the creation of waterfront spaces along the Han River and Tancheon.
Through the Tancheon and Han River maintenance project, a Tancheon pedestrian bridge connecting Gangnam and Jamsil will be newly built, and with the restoration of the river ecosystem including natural-style revetments, promenades and event spaces for citizens to enjoy will be created.
In the first half of this year, the city will proceed with decisions to modify the urban management plan (district unit plan) and sign the public contribution implementation agreement, and, after transportation, environmental, and education impact assessments and a review of architectural changes, will aim for completion by the end of 2031.
The city estimates that the production inducement effect from GBC development will reach 513 trillion won over the next 26 years—one year for permits, five years for construction, and 20 years after completion—comprising 18 trillion won during construction and 495 trillion won during operations. Over the same period, expected job creation is 1.46 million people, and the income inducement effect is more than 70 trillion won.
Kim Chang-gyu, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Balanced Development Headquarters, said, "We will swiftly push forward the long-stalled GBC development and complete it as a symbolic space that can serve as a new growth engine for the city and represent Seoul."