The portfolio, which Gale has been managing for the past sevenyears, is made up of the bulk of the holdings of BellemeadDevelopment Corp., which was itself owned by Chubb Insurance. Thebuildings, a combination of class A and B assets, are located inNew Jersey, as well as in Michigan and the Chicago area. Gale,MSREF and UBS bought the holdings from Chubb in 1997.

Gale is financing the acquisition through Wachovia Securities,and through an affiliate of the New York-based SL Green RealtyCorp. Schonbraun Safris McCann Bekritsky & Co. of Roselandadvised Gale on the deal, while Morgan Stanley and UBS advisedtheir own respective affiliates.

"We are very proud to have closed on this milestone acquisition,and to continue our ownership of these assets," says Stan Gale,chairman and CEO of the company that bears his name. "We are alsopleased to team up with SL Green, a world-class capital partner, toexecute this highly creative transaction, which provides us withthe working capital to reinvest in these assets and maintain themto our standards."