Aman Chose Seoul's Loudest Luxury District for a Brand Built on Seclusion

Aman has selected Cheongdam, in the middle of Seoul's Gangnam luxury retail district, for its first property in South Korea. The 38-storey tower will overlook the Han River and hold a hotel, 49 branded residences, the members-only Aman Club and extensive wellness facilities, on the site of the former Prima Hotel on Dosan-daero.

The scale is unusual for a brand whose reputation was built on remote retreats: roughly 70,000 square metres of floor area, plus eight basement levels. The project sits inside a $500 million joint venture between Korean retail group Shinsegae and OKO Group, the developer founded by Aman chairman and chief executive Vlad Doronin. Interiors are being drawn from Korean spatial traditions rather than imported from other Aman properties, with bespoke pieces from the brand's in-house studio, Aman Interiors.

No opening date has been confirmed. The development received a building permit in December 2025, and completion estimates have moved between 2029 and 2030.

Seoul's luxury pipeline is filling up

Aman joins a queue. Rosewood is due to open a 250-room hotel beside Yongsan Park in 2027, Mandarin Oriental is working with Hanwha on a property near Seoul Station for 2030, and Capella is building residences in Seocho for 2028. JLL counts more than 2,800 new luxury rooms scheduled across the city by 2030.

Demand is running ahead of that supply for now. Korea recorded 10.71 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026, more than a fifth above the same period a year earlier, and well-located five-star rooms remain scarce — Four Seasons Hotel Seoul sits on a short list of downtown options.

The urban turn

Aman now runs 36 hotels, resorts and residence projects across 21 destinations, and its pipeline is almost entirely metropolitan: Dubai, Miami Beach, Beverly Hills, Singapore and Riyadh. The template repeats each time — hotel, branded residences, invitation-only club — and it has already been tested at Aman Tokyo, Aman New York and Aman Nai Lert Bangkok. Cheongdam, a district defined by flagship boutiques and beauty clinics rather than quiet, is the sharpest test yet of whether seclusion survives the move downtown.