Stan Gale Jr. is focusing on NY development after almost three years working in China.
Stan Gale Sr. founded Gale International in 1985, and it grew to become the master planner for Meixi Lake in Changsha, Hunan Province, and master developer of South Korea’s 1,500-acre $35B Songdo International Business District.
The company was invited to that role based on its successful development and sale of Boston's 1.1M SF One Lincoln St. Gale International built it spec for $350M, triple-net-leased it to State Street Bank, and sold it a year later for more than double the price.
Meanwhile, from the ’80s through the early 2000s, the company had developed and acquired 7M SF in New Jersey.
It was Stan's great grandfather, Daniel Gale, who launched the family into real estate with the Daniel Gale Agency. His first hire was a 17-year-old woman named Jean who replied to an ad in the paper. She's now Stan Jr.’s grandmother, as she married the boss’s son, D. Kent Gale, in 1943.
Kent and Jean have lived across the street from their children on Long Island and celebrated their 70th anniversary this past summer before Kent passed away last week. While Grandma loves to hear colorful stories from the business, Stan says, Pappy wanted to be kept informed of the financial bottom line and “when the deal closes.”
In 2007, just months before the looming recession, Gale International sold its domestic portfolio to Mack-Cali, including 60M SF under management in 40 states and 32 countries and branch offices in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy. The sale also included a non-compete in the NY metro, so Gale re-entered the market in 2012. Stan Sr. assembled a team with whom he'd worked successfully domestically and abroad. Stan Jr., an integral part of the China and Korea projects, now will turn his attention to NYC.
Though Gale International has been HQ'd in Manhattan for years, the firm acquired its first NYC project just last year: Flatiron's 21 W 20th, where it's developing ultra-luxury condos with 100-foot-wide penthouses, expansive floor plans, hidden butler’s pantries, spacious terraces, and even kitchenettes in the master bedrooms.
From its office atop 540 Madison Ave at 55th, Gale is looking at high-value opportunities in Manhattan and has put together strong financial partners in JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Ohio's teachers pension fund.
A Manhattan resident for 10 years (other than his tour in China), Stan Jr. tells us he appreciates how neighborhoods evolve, their architecture, and what kinds of businesses and demographics they attract. On the weekends, he stops by friends' apartments, wandering the neighborhoods, stopping into restaurants, walking into open houses, and being a part of the fabric of the city. Having studied and visited many others around the world, he avows, "There is nothing quite like New York."
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