Stan Gale of the Gale Co.

Growth for the Gale Co. has taken a peculiar track. The Florham Park, NJ-based investor/developer and service firm was founded in 1985 (as the Sammis Co.). Run today by president Mark Yaeger and chairman and CEO Stan Gale, the firm quickly established itself as a regional player. Over the years, it spread its reach beyond the Garden State as far north as Boston, as far south as Washington DC and as far west as Incheon, Korea. Incheon, Korea? Yep. In March, Gale unveiled plans to joint venture with the city of Incheon and Korea-based Posco Engineering & Construction on a $12.5-billion urban center to be called New Songdo Intelligent City. (Click on: GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: US/South Korea JV Sets Sights on $12B Urban Center.) In scope and international impact, it is without question the most ambitious project Gale has ever tackled. Not bad for a firm still trying to shed its regional reputation. But, says Gale, it makes sense when you consider the types of properties it has under its development belt, which includes Boston’s 1.1-million-sf One Lincoln St.–now leased to State Street Global. In fact, Gale tells GlobeSt.com that it was the Lincoln building that set the wheels in motion for Incheon, and the deal comes on the heels of the firm launching a new national strategy–reported exclusively on GlobeSt.com this past February. Click on: GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: G&W Forms $200M Investment Fund, Changes Name–as well as a $200-million investment fund. Neverthless, he admits that, strategies aside, some good things–like the Incheon deal–come simply by answering the phone. He sat down recently to discuss the forces of strategy and good fortune.

GlobeSt.com: You’ve been more than regional for a while, even though you’re just now unveiling your national strategy.

Gale: The announcement is actually the continuation of a process that started many years ago, when we chose to balance our efforts between the investment world and the services we provide–management, leasing and construction. That balance has allowed us to develop relationships with tenants on one hand and investors on the other, and the development of those relationships has been a major catalyst behind expansion into other regions.

GlobeSt.com: For instance?

Gale: Our first Morgan Stanley fund, started as a New Jersey-focused fund in 1995, evolved into a $2 billion relationship and brought us into other markets via the capital we’ve invested for them, notably in California. We always felt it was best for our investors to operate on a national platform. We’re moving forward now with our fourth fund, which should represent some $300 million or $400 million in additional properties. And there are other joint-venture investments we’ve made, such as PaineWebber and JP Morgan and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.

GlobeSt.com: With which you did One Lincoln Street.

Gale: Right, and that was really the bellwether project for us in terms of the Incheon transaction.

GlobeSt.com: How so?

Gale: I’d love to say it was our strategy and we planned to roll out in this manner, but some of the great things in life come from just doing a good job and focusing on your existing business. We got a tremendous amount of notoriety from the Lincoln Building. Tom O’Neill–Tip’s son, by the way–is with GPC, a consulting firm that was doing a national search for a development team for the Incheon project. They saw the tower going up. John Hines, our partner in charge of our Boston office, started talking with him and John told me to jump on a plane to Incheon. That was just a year ago.

GlobeSt.com: That easy?

Gale: Almost. I met with the people who were driving the process, checked with the US Government to make sure it was okay and outlined how we would go about essentially building a new city. They liked what we had to say. We signed the final agreement about a month ago [This interview took place April 29.--ed].

GlobeSt.com: An international play like this–especially for a recently regional firm–must pose some very serious challenges.

Gale: You know, it’s a flat piece of land that needs developing just like we do anywhere else. But we do have the property consultants and international financial people in place. But what’s interesting about Korea is that they’re free, they’re proud and they love the US. They’re doing everything at hyper speed. Think of the ’88 Olympics. This is a country that went from nothing to an international host nation, and they are now the 13th largest economy in the world. In terms of the Gateway project, they had no previous history of master-planned projects of this sort. I see in Korea an Asian version of an earlier US.

GlobeSt.com: How is the project scheduled?

Gale: It goes over a 10-year period, but certainly there will be growth beyond that, and we may not build or own every piece of the plan. But the first phase calls for one million sf of commercial and 7,000 units of multifamily–all presold.

GlobeSt.com: Is this the start of Gale emerging as a global player?

Gale: We try never to be too far ahead of where we are. We’ve been given a wonderful opportunity–for us, for the country and for international trade. We have to look at it simply in terms of doing a first-class job–like, frankly, we did in Boston. We’re not actively seeking other projects of this sort. But others will come.

Email Stan Gale