Global Marketing Campaign Launched for World's Largest Commercial Real Estate Venture

Global Marketing Campaign Launched for World's Largest Commercial Real Estate
Venture
New York Headquartered Gale International Announces August 2009 Opening of $30
Billion Songdo International Business District in South Korea

NEW YORK, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A major global marketing campaign was
launched today at the Manhattan headquarters of Gale International to announce
the August, 2009 opening of Songdo International Business District, the
largest private real estate project in history.
The kickoff, attended by more than 100 corporate executives, joint venture
partners, real estate brokers, international investors, and dignitaries,
included details on accelerated commercial development in the 1,500-acre
Songdo International Business District (IBD). Located on the coast of Incheon
and connected directly to the Incheon International Airport, Songdo IBD is
Korea's new front door. The city is a 70/30 joint venture between Gale
International and POSCO E&C, a subsidiary of Korean steel giant POSCO.
Attendees included Thomas C. Hubbard, former United States Ambassador to
the Republic of Korea.
The event also included the announcement of a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) between Gale International and Microsoft Learning, a product group of
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). This joint undertaking will further establish
Songdo IBD as an example of best practices in technology education and
implementation. To underscore its commitment to this initiative, Gale
International will fund translation of Microsoft's complete Digital Literacy
curriculum into Korean, thus making it available to the full breadth of the
Korean workforce for the first time.
Specifically, the agreement outlines the integration of the Microsoft
Digital Literacy curriculum and Microsoft IT Academy into the Songdo
International School, Asia's newest and most modern private preparatory
school, where it will be available both in the school curriculum and in
after-hours adult education for local citizens. The alliance extends to the
Gale International U-Life Institute of Technology, which is focused on
technology skills training for workers in a global economy. Perhaps most
importantly the agreement can be seen as an important first step in a
broadening relationship between Microsoft and Gale International in relation
to the Songdo IBD project and beyond.
The Songdo International School, slated to open September, 2009, will
serve 2,500 students in grades K through 12. U-Life, Songdo IBD's ubiquitous
computing division, will offer a wide array of life enhancing digital services
to Songdo's businesses and residents.
Microsoft joins an already extensive list of best-in-class multinational
corporations selected by Gale International to act as strategic partners for
Songdo IBD including Morgan Stanley, United Technologies Corporation, and
Taubman Centers, Inc., among others.
Stanley C. Gale, Chairman and Managing Partner of Gale International,
said, "Today we are launching a worldwide campaign to demonstrate the unique
location, benefits, and unprecedented investment opportunity represented by
Songdo IBD. As our newly announced relationship with Microsoft indicates, we
expect to continue to attract the highest quality partners for Songdo, and we
welcome the opportunity to further deepen our strategic alliance with
Microsoft."
John B. Hynes, III, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Gale
International, said, "Songdo IBD is a hub location for corporations and
institutions expanding into Asian markets, while providing the international
lifestyle benefits and amenities of an exciting and environmentally
sustainable new city."
Jim Dilanni, Director, Academic Programs, Microsoft Learning, said,
"Microsoft Digital Literacy provides essential computing concepts and skills
that enable students to use computer technology in everyday life to develop
social and economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their
communities. We are so pleased that Gale International is taking the lead and
funding the localization of the curriculum in Korean."
The global marketing campaign will focus on Songdo IBD commercial
opportunities led by the iconic 65-story, 1.2 million square foot Northeast
Asia Trade Tower. NEATT, which is seeking LEED Silver certification, will
stand as Korea's tallest building and most advanced business center. Other
projects include the Gale International/ U-Life Northeast Asia Headquarters,
which will be the first LEED-Platinum building in Korea and a model of
sustainable building. Marketing events similar to today's in New York will be
held shortly in Seoul, Dubai, London, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Songdo IBD overall will include forty-five million square feet of office
space, thirty million square feet of residential space, ten million square
feet of retail, five million square feet of hotel space and ten million square
feet of public space.
Songdo IBD, "The Gateway to Northeast Asia," is the first new city in the
world designed and planned as an international business district. This master-
planned metropolis will be connected by a new 7.4 mile highway bridge to the
Incheon International Airport, one of the world's busiest, and linked by
subway to Seoul. It is estimated that when fully completed in 2015 Songdo IBD
will be home to 65,000 people and that 300,000 will work there. Songdo IBD is
located within the Incheon Free Economic Zone.
Songdo IBD will offer every conceivable amenity including a world-class
hospital, an international preparatory school, museums, a 100-acre Central
Park, a 1.2-million square foot premium retail mall and the Jack Nicklaus Golf
Club Korea. Songdo IBD will be 40 percent green space, and has been designed
to minimize the city's carbon footprint. Long-term sustainability has been
considered in every design and engineering decision. Indeed, Songdo IBD was
recently named a "green urbanism" pilot project by the U.S. Green Building
Council. More information can be found at www.Songdo.com.
Gale International is a premier international real estate investment and
development company with headquarters in New York and offices in Boston;
Irvine, California; Seoul and New Songdo, South Korea.
SOURCE Gale International

Mary Lou DiNardo, Gale International, International and U.S. Queries,
+1-212-909-0340, tkpr1@aol.com; or Hyewon Chang, Gale International, Domestic
ROK Queries, +82-2-6260-3353, hwchang@galeintlkorea.com