"Ibujin's Long-cherished Wish" Shilla Hanok Hotel Construction Permit Approved... "Temporary Detour Road Construction Underway"

Obtained Jung-gu Office Building Permit... "Exact Construction Start Date to Be Determined Later"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Sunghye] The long-cherished project of Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, to construct a Hanok hotel is now approaching reality.

Jung-gu Office in Seoul announced on the 7th that it recently granted building permission for Hotel Shilla's traditional Hanok-style hotel. According to the district office, Hotel Shilla can begin construction once it passes the structural safety review and excavation review conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and obtains approval for the tourism business plan.

A Hotel Shilla official stated, "Currently, temporary detour road construction is underway, and the exact construction start date will be decided later."

Hotel Shilla has been promoting plans to develop the area around the current hotel main entrance, including the nearby Namsan Fortress Trail, into a Hanok town featuring the hotel by 2025. Seoul's first traditional Hanok hotel is expected to be built with 43 rooms, spanning four basement levels and two above-ground floors.

The Hotel Shilla Hanok hotel construction project involves building ▲a traditional hotel from three basement floors to two above-ground floors on the site currently occupied by the duty-free shop within the Shilla Hotel in Jangchung-dong ▲ancillary facilities including a duty-free shop from four basement floors to two above-ground floors ▲and an eight-basement-level underground parking lot. The project was first submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2011 but faced many twists and turns before passing the final hurdle. Initially, this area, located around the Hanyangdoseong Fortress, was designated as a mixed natural scenic district and historical cultural scenic district, making new construction or expansion of buildings difficult for protection purposes. Tourist accommodation facilities such as hotels were also prohibited. However, in July 2011, Seoul's urban planning ordinance was amended to allow 'Korean traditional hotels.' In August of the same year, Hotel Shilla formally set up its project plan and submitted it to Seoul.

This time, controversies arose over natural landscape damage. The ambitiously prepared plan was repeatedly deferred and rejected by the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Urban Planning Committee. Finally, after the fifth attempt, it passed the committee review in March 2016, five years after the initial concept. Subsequently, it passed reviews by the Cultural Heritage Administration, environmental impact assessment, and traffic impact assessment in sequence. Through this process, the originally planned four above-ground floors Hanok hotel was revised to two above-ground floors.

The Hanok hotel is designed not as a single three-story Western-style building but as multiple Hanok structures arranged in a stepped form. Additionally, Hotel Shilla plans to extend the eaves of the Hanok hotel by at least 1.2 meters to maximize the beauty of Hanok while incorporating the convenience of modern architecture.

The total investment amount is approximately 300 billion KRW. Hotel Shilla expects that once completed, the project will create employment for about 1,000 people. A Hotel Shilla official said, "We aim to contribute to tourism revitalization and help activate the local economy through increased investment and employment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.