New York Times-2007.12.31

[this was then... what is now, two years later?]

IMAGINE a city with Venice’s canals, New York’s Central Park and the broad tree-lined boulevards of Paris. And how about the colorful shopping bazaar of Marrakesh, Morocco; the pocket gardens of Savannah, Ga.; and an opera house like the one in Sydney, Australia? Throw in a world-class hospital, convention center and schools, and a sustainable design, and you might think you’re lost in a SimCity video game.
But such a real-life metropolis of glass, steel and grass is rising on the western coast of South Korea, 40 miles from Seoul, on 1,500 acres of landfill that just a few years ago was water. It is called New Songdo City, and its backers envision it as a major new financial and business hub for northeast Asia.

The South Korean government has designated the area as a free economic zone, a bilingual city (Korean and English) where foreigners can own land and run schools and hospitals and where companies can get relief from Korean taxes and bureaucracy. It is also building a seven-mile bridge that will link New Songdo to Incheon International Airport, off the coast.

Ambitious new cities have been popping up across Asia and the Middle East. But New Songdo City is among the largest master-planned projects that is privately owned. The project is being developed by New Songdo International City Development, a joint venture of Gale International, based in New York, and Posco Engineering and Construction of South Korea.

Other high-profile Korean development projects — from the 1988 Olympics to the 2002 World Cup and the construction of the airport — have all been national projects. “As an international company, our role is to partner with Korean government and industry to create an international environment,” said Stanley C. Gale, the chairman and a managing partner at Gale International.

New Songdo will cost an estimated $30 billion to build, atop the $10 billion that the city of Incheon and the Korean government are spending on infrastructure projects. Every six months, $1 billion in construction is scheduled to begin. Morgan Stanley Real Estate is investing $350 million, and in November, Gale lined up $2.7 billion in financing led by Shinhan Bank.

New Songdo is expected to open its doors in August 2009, when the first phase of construction, including the bridge and city center, is completed. The project is expected to wrap up by 2015.  [...]