Dyad Cheongdam, which moved into 1 Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam District, Seoul, touting Korea's first high-end membership club, has ended up facing a sixth-round public auction without finding a buyer.
According to Onbid, the public auction platform of the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO), a sixth-round public auction to sell in one lot the land and building of Dyad Cheongdam at 1 Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, is scheduled to take place on the 17th. The auction, which began on the 26th of last month with a minimum bid of about 168 billion won, has fallen about 33.4% to 111.9 billion won after consecutive failures in earlier rounds. Through the fifth round held on the 12th, no one participated in the bidding.
The Dyad Cheongdam subject to this auction is a mixed-use building on a site area of 795.2 square meters (about 241 pyeong), with four basement levels and 16 above-ground floors (including a 17th-floor rooftop per the general building register). Its primary uses are neighborhood living facilities and office facilities (residential officetels). Construction began in Sep. 2022 and was completed in May last year. The appraisal value by Jungang Appraisal Corporation is 132 billion won, and the land value is 109.7 billion won (about 450 million won per 3.3 square meters).
Dyad Cheongdam initially drew attention by setting a deposit of 1 billion won for individuals and 1.2 billion won for corporations, and even imposing an annual membership fee of 10 million won. However, with member recruitment progressing more slowly than expected and recent spikes in construction costs and interest expenses, it appears to have been unable to withstand the burden and ultimately entered the public auction market as part of an asset disposal process.
Industry watchers say it is difficult to be optimistic about the sixth-round bidding as well. An industry official said, "It drew attention for being designed by world-renowned French architect Dominique Perrault, but once completed it turned out to be an ordinary glass building, sparking controversy and leaving a negative image," adding, "The location and symbolism of 1 Cheongdam-dong are unrivaled, but with a tricky change-of-use process and heavy cost burdens, it's unclear whether anyone will readily join the bidding."
This is not the first time a so-called "super rich" targeted development project in the Gangnam area has faced the risk of auction. The Aston 55 development site and building in Jamwon-dong, Seocho District, Seoul, by the same developer as Dyad Cheongdam, Sinyu C&D (formerly Aster Development), will also begin its first public auction on the 29th. The starting price is 490.8808 billion won. The penthouses in this ultra-high-priced dwellings had sales prices set at 60–80 billion won.