Launch date set for South Korea’s US$1.7bn resort
Work has started on South Korea’s first integrated resort – Paradise City in Incheon – which is scheduled open next to Incheon International Airport in the first half of 2017.
A number of the industry’s leading architecture and design practices have been working on the US$1.7bn (€1.4bn, £1.1bn) casino, hotel, spa and theme park project, including WATG, GA Design International, Hirsch Bedner Associates, Hawkins Brown, Lifescapes International and Gansam Architects.
A joint venture between Japanese entertainment company Sega Sammy Holdings and Korean casino operator Paradise Group, the resort will cater for both local visitors and tourists. It will have a five-star hotel, a foreigner-only casino, an indoor theme park, restaurants and a healing spa where overseas tourists will be able to experience a Korean public bathhouse or ‘jjimjilbang’. Paradise City will also include retail and a convention centre.
The development will be a 10 minute walk from the airport – one of Asia’s main hubs – which welcomes 41.6 million people a year.
The 711-bed hotel will also have pool and a fitness centre and will house the casino – the largest in South Korea – with VIPs given access to a private casino on the top floor. A 103-bed boutique hotel is also planned.
K-Plaza – housing multiple visitor attractions – will include a theme park using 3D hologram technology, a museum dedicated to South Korean culture, Korean restaurants and an art gallery.
A total of 330,000sq m (3.5m sq ft) of land for the project is being leased from the airport for 50 years, with Paradise and Sega Sammy holding a 55 per cent and 45 per cent stake in the venture respectively.