The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday that the designation of a project operator and draft implementation agreement for the Jamsil Sports and MICE Complex private investment project had cleared the fourth session of the Ministry of Planning and Budget's Private Investment Project Review Committee.
Clearing the committee's review means the project has completed final verification of its feasibility, public interest value and financial structure, and that the legal groundwork is now in place to begin follow-up steps including signing an implementation agreement and obtaining project plan approval.
The city plans to sign the implementation agreement this month, with the private operator set to complete large-scale project financing at the same time. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, with completion targeted for 2032. "This approval marks the start in earnest of transforming the Jamsil Sports Complex area into a cutting-edge sports and cultural landmark anchored by large-scale exhibition and convention facilities and sports venues," said Kang Seok, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Balanced Development Headquarters. "We will move swiftly on follow-up procedures including the implementation agreement to break ground, and spare no effort to ensure the project through to completion without a hitch."
The Jamsil private investment project is the largest mixed-use private investment development in South Korea, covering a roughly 290,000-square-meter site around Jamsil Sports Complex. It will include exhibition and convention facilities, a dome baseball stadium and other sports and MICE venues, as well as accommodation, retail and office space.
The development will feature exhibition space of 89,000 square meters and convention space of 19,000 square meters — 2.5 times the size of COEX — alongside a 30,000-seat dome baseball stadium and an 11,000-seat sports complex, creating a multipurpose cultural venue capable of hosting international sporting events, K-pop performances and large-scale cultural festivals.
To allow visitors to enjoy accommodation, shopping and tourism in one place, the complex will include 841 hotel rooms and 110,000 square meters of retail space. A prime office complex of 31 above-ground floors and roughly 200,000 square meters of total floor area, with views of the Han River, will also be built to support international business and the MICE industry network.
The 841 rooms will be spread across three hotel properties tied to different parts of the complex: a five-star hotel with 288 rooms linked to the exhibition and convention facilities, a four-star business hotel with 306 rooms connected to the dome baseball stadium, and a four-star residence hotel with 247 rooms serving the office zone. Retail facilities integrated with the Tancheon and Han River waterfront parks will further expand cultural and leisure offerings.
The total project cost is approximately 2.7 trillion won ($1.81 billion) based on 2016 figures, or 3.3 trillion won in 2025 terms, with all facilities to be funded entirely through private investment. A portion of project revenues will be shared with the Seoul Metropolitan Government as recoupment payments and excess profits, which the city intends to pool into a fund for reinvestment across Seoul wherever needed.
Mayor Oh Se-hoon, speaking at a press briefing held at Seoul Gallery in Seoul City Hall in March, described the project as "a structure in which the private sector invests the full amount without fiscal support and shares a portion of the profits with the city." He added that the project "is also meaningful in that Seoul city and the central government worked together to introduce institutional improvements and special provisions, even amid the difficult conditions of soaring construction costs and a shrinking project financing market." "The ripple effects of the Jamsil Sports and MICE project will spread across all of Seoul," he said, adding that the city would "raise its competitiveness to the next level, befitting Seoul's standing as the world's top MICE city for 11 consecutive years."
cook@heraldcorp.com
