The most expensive luxury on offer in Hannam-dong, Seoul, is the ability to enjoy a private life, out of reach.
That is just what actor Byeon Woo-seok paid some 13 billion won ($9.7 million) for. The actor reportedly bought a 235-square-meter unit at Hannam the Hill in May.
He joins a long list of corporate executives and celebrities, including So Ji-sub, Ock Joo-hyun and Choo Ja-hyun, as residents of the complex in central Seoul's Yongsan-gu.
Hannam the Hill rose on the former site of Dankook University's Seoul campus with 600 units and occupancy starting in 2011.
Almost nothing about it followed the standard Korean apartment playbook. When large complexes were built for density, this one was built for space, with big units, a low floor area ratio and an unusual amount of ground given over to landscaping.
That combination pulled luxury housing demand, which had concentrated in southern portions of the city, north of the river, and forced reassessment of what Hannam-dong was worth as a place to live.
The scale was clear from the start. When the complex began recruiting tenants in 2009, rental deposits ran as high as 2.5 billion won. Penthouses reached 332 square meters in supply area, and many units exceeded 200 square meters. Apart from a few 87-square-meter homes, the 600 units were built mostly for people who wanted room.
Floor plans include duplexes and terrace units, formats that barely featured in Seoul apartment stock at the time. The project eliminated ground-level parking, turning the reclaimed space into greenery. A floor area ratio of about 120 percent kept buildings apart and the grounds open.
Hannam-dong sits at the center of Seoul, linking the areas north and south of the Han River, with Namsan and the river both close at hand. Access is strong to the Gwanghwamun and City Hall business districts as well as to Gangnam. Embassies and detached mansions arrived long before the apartments did, establishing a residential culture distinct from the rest of the city.
Inside the complex, residents enjoy a private swimming pool, indoor and screen golf facilities, gym, guest rooms, party rooms and meeting spaces. The package made it possible to live a full social life without leaving the grounds, and it anticipated -- years in advance -- the community-facility arms race now standard in Korean luxury developments.
The most important feature is controlled access at the complex entrance. Even entry to apartment buildings and use of the elevators are restricted.
For those of such repute they cannot cross public space unnoticed, that matters more than any of the facilities.
Resident composition has shaped the complex as much as its architecture. Business figures and entertainers were known to be living there from the earliest days, and the perception that Hannam the Hill is the address chosen by prominent people has held since.
In luxury housing, who lives in a building does more than generate gossip. It becomes part of what the building is, and it is the piece a developer cannot design in advance.
This series looks at the latest lifestyles of the ultrarich. — Ed.
