
Hanssem’s headquarters in Seoul (Image: Hines)
Hines has acquired a Seoul office building from local furniture maker Hanssem through a vehicle of Korean real estate investment manager Gravity Asset Management, marking the US developer and fund manager’s second Korean office investment as the sector continues to be a top draw for global and local investors.
The 22-storey building in Seoul’s Mapo district was acquired last month for KRW 320 billion ($235 million), by a Gravity-linked vehicle, according to Korean regulatory disclosures. Local media reports indicate that Hines and Gravity are co-investors in the fund, with Hanssem also having invested in the vehicle.
Hines, which did not disclose Gravity’s participation in the acquisition, pointed to the property as benefiting from strong leasing fundamentals, with Hanssem leasing the building from its new owners under a long-term deal. The company has identified Seoul’s premium office sector as a high conviction market after the Korean capital posted 2 percent vacancy and double-digit rental growth over the two years ended 30 June, according to Hines’ research.
“We’re pleased to partner with Hanssem to deliver Hines’ commitment to quality, sustainability, and tenant experience at their headquarters in Seoul,” Harry Lee, country head of South Korea at Hines said in a release on Monday. “Seoul office continues to be one of our high conviction areas. Given the building’s location and strong leasing fundamentals, we’re positive about the value the asset can bring to both investors and office tenants.”
Preferred Equity
Situated within the Digital Media City media and broadcasting hub at 179 Seongam-ro, the building is located a one-minute walk from the Digital Media City subway station. The 66,648 square metre (771,393 square foot) property is fully leased to Hanssem.

Harry Lee, country head of South Korea at Hines (Image: Hines)
Hanssem agreed to sell the asset to the Gravity vehicle on 30 August, with the acquisition price working out to just over KRW 4.8 million per square metre. The Korean corporate had selected the Gravity vehicle as the preferred bidder for the asset in April.
According to local media accounts, Hines invested KRW 150 billion in the fund’s preferred stock, with that amount representing an 87 percent share of the vehicle’s preferred equity, while Gravity and Hanssem respectively invested KRW 150 billion and KRW 20 billion in common equity. Gravity also reportedly borrowed KRW 170 billion to finance the transaction.
Hines reportedly made the investment through its Hines Asia Property Partners fund, a core-plus vehicle which in 2022 acquired the 30,000 square metre Westgate Tower office block in Seoul, marking the company’s inaugural investment in the Korean office sector. Hines had not responded to Mingtiandi inquiries by the time of publication.
As of the end of the second quarter, the fund’s portfolio included office, industrial and living sector investments in Japan, Australia, Korea and Hong Kong.
The Hanssem building acquisition affirms Hines’ Korean ambitions and the company’s focus on deals with the potential to generate above-market returns, the firm said. Hines is aiming to obtain LEED O+M (operation and maintenance) Gold certification for the building under the US Green Building Council’s regimen for sustainable buildings.
Hanssem, which is backed by local private equity firm IMM Private Equity and Korean retail giant Lotte Shopping, acquired the property in 2017 for a reported KRW 148.5 billion.
Korean Offices In Vogue
Seoul’s office market helped boost the city’s volume of income-generating property investment to $7.4 billion in the first half of 2024, trailing only Tokyo’s $10.1 billion, according to MSCI’s latest Asia Pacific Capital Trends report. The Korean capital recorded KRW 4.0 trillion in office trades in the first half of the year, down slightly from the KRW 4.5 trillion in transactions during the same period a year earlier, according to a July report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Earlier this month, a private REIT under South Korean fund manager Koramco sold The Asset Gangnam office tower in Seoul to Samsung SRA Asset Management for KRW 1.1 trillion ($820 million). That deal came a month after Singapore’s CapitaLand Investment completed its KRW 440.8 billion ($330 million) purchase of the Golden Tower office building in Seoul’s Gangnam business district from South Korea’s NPS on behalf of a new private fund.
In March, Blackstone’s $588 million sale of Arc Place on Seoul’s Teheran-ro to Koramco ranked as Asia Pacific’s largest transaction of a single property in the first quarter, according to MSCI.
Hines Deal Streak
The transaction is the latest in a string of APAC acquisitions this year by Hines, which managed $93 billion of global assets as of 30 June.
Earlier this month, a Hines joint venture with Australian fund manager Haben agreed to acquire the Westpoint Shopping Centre in Sydney from Queensland Investment Corporation for A$900 million in the largest purchase ever of a single Australian retail asset. That deal came just days after Hines and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan completed their acquisition of two build-to-rent projects in Brisbane.
In July, Hines teamed with Japan’s Mitsubishi Estate and Mitsui & Co to acquire a northern Singapore logistics asset and the company has also been active in Japan this year, acquiring a warehouse in the Greater Osaka area and a Tokyo office building, while selling a pair of Nagoya sheds to Hong Kong’s PAG.
In April Hines announced that it is partnering with India’s Pioneer Urban to develop a Gurugram office property at a total project cost of INR 15 billion ($180 million).
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