Thirty-eight floors on the river, opening at the end of the decade.
Aman and Shinsegae Property made the official announcement today on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. The project is called Aman Seoul. It will occupy the former Hotel Prima site at Cheongdam-dong 52-3 and 52-7 in Gangnam, facing the Han River, with Seongsu on the opposite bank.
Seoul already has Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, Signiel and Josun Palace. It has not had Aman. Tokyo opened the brand’s first city hotel in 2014. New York followed in 2022, Aman Sveti Stefan reopened this year, and Bangkok’s Nai Lert opened in 2025. Cheongdam is the Korean entry, and the first visible result of a July 2026 joint venture between Shinsegae and Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group.
The numbers that are public
Shinsegae Property is the developer: planning, strategy, construction. The vehicle is Shinsegae Cheongdam PFV, owned by Shinsegae Property and Mirae-in. Aman is responsible for architecture, design and operations, under a long-term agreement covering the hotel and the residences.
The building is specified at eight basement levels and 38 floors above ground, about 70,000 square meters. Inside that envelope: a hotel whose room count has not been published, 49 branded residences, Korea’s first Aman Club, plus retail and cultural space.
Aman Seoul at a glance
| Location | Cheongdam-dong 52-3 / 52-7, Gangnam |
| Developer | Shinsegae Property (Shinsegae Cheongdam PFV, with Mirae-in) |
| Operator | Aman, long-term management |
| Hotel rooms | unpublished |
| Residences | 49 |
| Club | Aman Club Seoul |
| Size | c. 70,000 sq m; 38 floors + 8 basement |
| Opening | Korean press: 2029. Mirae-in has also cited June 2030. Aman has not named a month. |
| Status | announced 2 September 2026 |
Two opening dates, neither from Aman
Aman did not attach an opening month to the announcement. Korean outlets, Herald Economy among them, have been writing 2029. Mirae-in chief Jung Joo-young has separately spoken of completion around June 2030, with a construction start once planned for November 2025.
Those two calendars should both stay in the copy until Aman picks one. Treating 2029 as settled because it appeared in a headline is how these pages go stale.
How the project moved
- 2024: Shinsegae negotiated for Janu, Aman’s lower-priced city brand, on the Prima lot.
- 26–27 February 2025: Seoul’s urban architecture committee cleared the scheme. Early drawings showed 49 floors and around 60,000 square meters. The city published the decision the next day.
- April 2025: Trade sources said the operator would be Aman, not Janu.
- July 2026: Shinsegae and OKO Group signed a joint venture with $500 million in starting capital, covering Aman and Janu projects in Korea and abroad.
- 2 September 2026: Official announcement. Floor count now 38. Area now about 70,000 square meters. Nobody has explained the change.
Aman had also been associated with a Jeju resort that was supposed to reach Korea first. Cheongdam is what got announced.
Janu Seoul remains a separate project, still described as Gangnam, still aimed at 2027, still without a confirmed address. An earlier Janu plan at Seoul Station was dropped; Mandarin Oriental took that site.
Cheongdam, for readers who know the other Seoul
First-time visitors from the Nordics often start in Myeongdong: subway exits, shopping streets, the tourist density that makes a city easy to read in two days. Cheongdam is a different bet. Dosan-daero and Apgujeong-ro already carry Louis Vuitton, Dior and the newer flagships that treat retail as display. Galleries sit on the same blocks as K-pop agencies. Apgujeong is a few streets over. The river is in view from the lot.
There is no subway stop on the doorstep. Buses through Cheongdam are frequent, and taxis from here are short. That is the practical picture. The editorial one, which you can take or leave, is that this neighborhood is already sorted by who is admitted. Aman’s city hotels tend to want that condition. The site does more work than the quotes.
Renderings released with the announcement show a glass face to the river and a spare residence living room. The residences page on aman.com already leans on Cheongdam’s older name, Cheongsutgol, “the place of peaceful clear waters,” and on the pull of the Han.
Design, rooms, club, food: the thin file
Aman says the architecture and interiors will draw on Korean spatial habits and materials, and on the brand’s usual interest in privacy and space. Hotel, residences and club are planned with separate entrances and separate arrivals. No architect is named. No interior designer is named. Kerry Hill did Aman Tokyo. Jean-Michel Gathy did Aman Nai Lert Bangkok. Those names are the brand’s city record. They are not a commission list for Cheongdam.
Room inventory is the largest hole in the hotel story. Aman Nai Lert Bangkok opened with 52 suites and 34 residences in one building. Aman Tokyo has 84 rooms. Guessing Seoul from those two figures would be decoration. Leave it.
The 49 residences will be finished with Aman Interiors. Prices are unpublished. Inquiries are directed to residences@aman.com.
Aman Club Seoul is described as Korea’s first. What has been listed: a pool, fitness, a lounge and social rooms for residents and global members. In New York and Tokyo the club is the quieter half of the building, reserved for people who already live or travel inside the brand. Seoul is being sold on the same idea. Whether the rooms, rules and hours match those two clubs has not been spelled out.
Spa and wellness are planned across several floors, with Aman restaurant concepts and a global food-and-drink program. Restaurant names have not been released. Neither has a decision on whether spa and dining will take outside guests. Aman New York runs Arva (Italian) and Nama (Japanese), and keeps part of that floor for hotel guests and members. That is the only operating reference worth using. Local talk of an Italian restaurant and bar in Cheongdam can wait for a menu.
Price
No Seoul rates. On quiet dates, Aman Tokyo’s published entry level is about 250,000 yen before tax and service, roughly $1,560. A midweek night with breakfast and the usual add-ons more often comes in near 380,000 yen, about $2,400. Janu Tokyo starts around 200,000 yen, about $1,250. Those numbers describe Tokyo. They only tell you which end of Seoul’s market this house is being built for.
What else is landing in the same five years
The useful context is the calendar around it, because several brands in this band are arriving closer together than Seoul usually sees.
Rosewood Seoul is the nearest date: 2027, inside The Parkside in Yongsan, next to the future Yongsan Park on the old UNC site. About 250 rooms. Kohn Pedersen Fox on the building, Space Copenhagen on the interiors.
Capella has been attached to Seocho by 2028. Residences in Heonin Maeul are public, and a club is already open in Hannam-dong. The hotel itself is thinner on the record than Rosewood.
Mandarin Oriental Seoul is slated for the northern Seoul Station site in 2030: 128 rooms, interiors by André Fu, developed with Hanwha. First house in Korea.
Ritz-Carlton is back in the conversation for the old Millennium Hilton site at Namsan, with 2031 as the working year in a Korea Herald report from April 2025. The brand was in Gangnam from 1995 to 2016.
Aman’s other announced city projects, after Tokyo, New York and Bangkok, are Beverly Hills, Miami Beach, Dubai and Singapore. London, Paris and Los Angeles are not on that announced list. Seoul is being added to the city sequence. For the European houses, see Aman Sveti Stefan and Best New Hotels Europe 2026.
Until Cheongdam is bookable
Four hotels already operate at a level that does not need the Aman comparison.
Josun Palace is in Gangnam and owned by Shinsegae, so the group now building Aman already runs a luxury hotel in the same district. The draw is Apgujeong at the door and a steady, formal Korean service style.
Signiel Seoul occupies the upper floors of Lotte World Tower in Jamsil. People book it for the height and for rooms that run large by Seoul standards. The restaurant at the top pulls a different crowd from Cheongdam.
Four Seasons Seoul in Gwanghwamun is the straightforward choice when the days are north of the river: palaces, museums, long dinners. A conventional city hotel.
Park Hyatt Seoul has been in Gangnam since 2005, low-key by design, with less performance in the public rooms. Of the four, it is the one whose temperament is closest to what Aman usually tries to sell.
The Shilla is north of the river. It does not belong on a Gangnam shortlist.
The update list
Still unpublished: hotel room count, architect, interior designer, room rates, residence prices, restaurant names, whether spa and restaurants will take the city, an exact construction start, and an opening month from Aman.
Doronin, in the announcement, put Seoul at the meeting point of culture, design, technology and wellness, and called the project a permanent home for the brand in the city. Chung Yong-jin called it more than a hotel, and a new mark in Seoul’s high-end living. Both lines are the launch register. The dates and the missing room count are the parts that will actually change the page.
FAQ
When is Aman Seoul supposed to open?
Korean press has used 2029. Mirae-in has also pointed to June 2030. Aman has not confirmed either.
Where is the site?
The old Hotel Prima lot, Cheongdam-dong 52-3 and 52-7, Gangnam, facing the Han River.
How many hotel rooms?
Unpublished. The 49 residences are a separate inventory.
Is this the same project as Janu Seoul?
No. Janu Seoul is a different brand and a different scheme, still undated to a street address, with 2027 as the working year.
Can you use the spa or restaurants if you are not staying?
Not decided in public.
Are there prices?
No. Tokyo is the only Aman city hotel with a usable published range, and even that is a range, not a Seoul tariff.
Does Aman Seoul have its own Instagram account yet?
Yes. The account is @amanseoul_
Does Aman Seoul have its own website yet?
Yes. The project page is at aman.com/aman-seoul
We’ll keep following Aman Seoul and update this article as more details come in.
