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Seoul to build concert hall and green space in Seosomun area

Published: 05 Nov. 2025, 16:11 Updated: 05 Nov. 2025, 16:56

Rendering of the Seosomun Building Redevelopment Project [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

A sprawling new green space and a concert hall dedicated solely to classical music will be built in the Seosomun area of central Seoul as part of a major redevelopment project.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the Seosomun Building Redevelopment Project and unveiled the results of its three-year “Green Urban Core” initiative in the area.

The redevelopment project covers the site of the former Hoam Art Hall and the former JoongAng Ilbo headquarters in Jung District, central Seoul. The new structure will be an integrated office and cultural complex spanning 38 floors above ground and 8 underground, with a total floor area of 249,179 square meters (2.6 million square feet). The city aims to complete the project by June 2030.

A 1,100-seat classical concert hall, the first of its kind located north of the Han River, will occupy the fourth to ninth floors of the building. It will succeed the Hoam Art Hall, which opened in the 1980s and played a leading role in Korea’s classical performance scene.

The project applies Seoul’s “Green Urban Core” strategy, introduced in April 2022, which relaxes redevelopment regulations in exchange for developers providing expanded public green space.

The site will include 18,140 square meters (4.5 acres) of open green space — a 226 percent increase from the original 8,010 square meters. In return, the city approved a dramatic increase in building height from 90 meters (295 feet) to 194 meters.

The city has applied the same strategy to 36 other districts, including the Sewoon area, Yangdong area near Seoul Station and Supyo area, all in central Seoul, to expand privately funded urban green space.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers a commemorative speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Seosomun Building Redevelopment Project in Jung District, central Seoul on Nov. 5. [YONHAP]

"Once complete, these redevelopment projects are expected to add nearly 100,000 square meters of new green space to the city, roughly eight times the size of Seoul Plaza," a Seoul Metropolitan Government official said. "Before the launch of the Green Urban Core initiative, central Seoul saw an average of only 2.7 redevelopment projects a year, but that number jumped to 12.8 annually after the policy took effect."

City officials say the policy has not only expanded urban greenery but also accelerated the pace of redevelopment.

"This groundbreaking is more than just a development project," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said. "It marks the beginning of a shift in Seoul’s identity as a city that embraces green space. We will use the Green Urban Core strategy, a new redevelopment model that revitalizes the city through regulatory easing and public incentives while expanding green space, to connect neighborhoods across Seoul into a green network and elevate the city into a global green capital."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HAN EUN-HWA [[email protected]]