Samsung C&T takes 281 billion won to remodel the Mapo complex it built in 1997
Three buildings of 456 units become 482, with four extra basement levels added. The project adds only 26 units in total, so the 281 billion won bill has to land somewhere other than new sales.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Samsung C&T's construction division won the contract to remodel the Mapo Hangang Samsung Apartments in Seoul's Mapo District, with total construction cost put at about 281 billion won, or $203 million.
- The remodeling housing association for the complex approved Samsung C&T as its final contractor at a general meeting held on the 29th.
- Three buildings of 456 units running from two basement levels to 28 floors become three buildings of 482 units, one of them newly built, running from six basement levels to 29 floors.
- Community amenities including a fitness center, golf lounge and welcome lounge will total 5,824.8 square meters, which the company puts at about 12.23 square meters per household.
Why it matters
- cost Because the payer is a body of existing owners rather than a developer with a land loan, the bill divides at roughly 616 million won a household, about $445,000, and that is the sum a general meeting voted to spend.
- capability Samsung C&T can now sell the Raemian name twice on one address, once at handover in 1997 and again as the remodeling contractor, without the complex ever changing hands as a redevelopment site.
- precedent Any 1990s complex a Korean major built becomes a prospect its original contractor can pitch on incumbency, which quietly reorders who starts favoured in a remodeling tender.
- contradiction The amenity ratio reconciles with neither unit count, since 5,824.8 square meters at 12.23 per household implies about 476 households against 456 today and 482 after, so the marketing base and the build base are being counted differently.
Divide the 281 billion won of construction cost [3] by the 26 units this project actually adds, 482 where 456 stood [4][5][11], and each incremental unit is carrying about 10.8 billion won [12], which at the roughly 1,384 won to the dollar implied by the source's own 281 billion won / $203 million pairing [13] works out near $7.8 million a unit [14]. On any sale price I can imagine for a Mapo apartment, the added units are not the funding mechanism. Spread the same money across all 482 completed units instead and it falls to about 583 million won each, near $421,000 [19], which is a sane number for a rebuilt Han River flat and which locates the product: 456 homes refitted, with 26 new units and four extra basement levels layered underneath them [17].
One floor of height, 28 to 29, and four floors of depth, two to six [17], are not symmetric jobs. Putting four basement levels under a structure that has been standing since 1997 [6] is where a contract price meets a soil report, and it is the line I would want broken out before anyone calls the margin on this.
The more interesting version of the deal is the brand. Samsung C&T built this complex, is now taking it back under Raemian as Raemian La Cieler Hangang [6][7], and says this is the first time it has remodeled its own work [6]. A contractor holding a book of its own 1990s output has something closer to a callable list than a tender pipeline, because it can argue it knows the structure it is being asked to cut into.
There is another way to read this deal: as river frontage, not method. The complex faces the Han River to the southwest, sits within walking distance of Mapo Station on Line 5, and commutes to Yeouido, Gwanghwamun and Jongno [10], and the winning proposal sells permanent views, an art facade shaped after the river's waves, and a sky lounge with rooftop garden across two floors of the new building [9]. If the 281 billion won was priced off that address rather than off the remodeling method, then there is no channel here, only a postcode, and I am wrong.
Kim Myung-seok, who heads housing product marketing at Samsung C&T, framed the win as delivering pride to association members [8]. That is what you say to the people writing the cheques. What matters more is the allocation: a site team and a schedule committed to Tojeong-ro 32-gil [4] for the length of an extension-and-excavation job are not on a greenfield tower elsewhere, and a division that finds this pays will bid the next one.
What to watch
- Whether Samsung C&T's next remodeling bid is one of its own 1990s complexes without river frontage.
- Any revision to the 482-unit plan, which would move both the amenity ratio and the unit count members are funding.
- Whether rival Korean majors start tendering for remodels of complexes they built themselves.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence34
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+32
- Incentives78
- Confidence42
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Samsung C&T's construction division has won the contract to remodel the Mapo Hangang Samsung Apartments in Seoul's Mapo District.
- [2]
The remodeling housing association for the complex approved Samsung C&T as its final contractor at a general meeting on the 29th.
- [3]
The total construction cost of the project is about 281 billion won ($203 million).
- [4]
The existing complex at 11 Tojeong-ro 32-gil in Mapo District comprises three buildings of 456 units spanning two basement levels to 28 floors.
- [5]
The complex will be rebuilt into three buildings with 482 units, including a newly constructed separate building, extending from six basement levels to 29 floors, along with support and welfare facilities.
- [6]
The project is the first case in which Samsung C&T will remodel an apartment complex it built itself, in 1997, and relaunch it under the company's own Raemian brand.
- [7]
Samsung C&T has proposed renaming the complex Raemian La Cieler Hangang.
- [8]
Kim Myung-seok, executive vice president and head of Samsung C&T's housing product marketing division, said the company would carry out the remodeling successfully and deliver the greatest pride to association members.
- [9]
The exterior will feature an art facade shaped after the waves of the Han River, and a sky lounge and rooftop landscaped garden will occupy two floors of the new building to maximize the view premium.
- [10]
The complex faces the Han River to the southwest, sits within walking distance of Mapo Station on Seoul Subway Line 5 with access to the Gangbyeonbuk-ro expressway, and offers convenient commuting to Yeouido, Gwanghwamun and Jongno.
- [11]
The remodeling adds 26 units on a net basis.
- [12]
Spread only over the units the project adds, construction cost runs about 10.8 billion won per incremental unit.
- [13]
The source's own won and dollar figures imply an exchange rate of roughly 1,384 won to the dollar.
- [14]
In dollars, the cost per added unit is about $7.8 million.
- [15]
Spread across the 456 existing households, the construction cost is about 616 million won each.
- [16]
That per-household figure is about $445,000.
- [17]
The plan adds four basement levels and one floor of height.
- [18]
The stated amenity ratio implies a base of about 476 households, matching neither the 456 units today nor the 482 planned; 5,824.8 sq m over 482 is 12.08 sq m and over 456 is 12.77 sq m.
- [19]
Across all 482 completed units, construction cost is about 583 million won, or roughly $421,000, per unit.
- [20]
Community amenities including a fitness center, golf lounge, healing community space and welcome lounge will total 5,824.8 square meters, or about 12.23 square meters per household.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- en.sedaily.comSamsung C&T Wins Remodeling Deal for Mapo Hangang Samsung Apartments
1 article · August 29, 2026
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