Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty Celebrates Centennial
During its centennial year, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty returned to its roots by opening a new, modern office across the street from where its original location was established in 1922. The venerable Long Island-based company plans to use the new space’s layout as a template for future offices.
Located at 263 Main St., the new office is ideally situated on a prime corner – the intersection of Main Street and New York Avenue – in Huntington Village, a walkable downtown known for its restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues. While providing high visibility and heavy foot traffic, the location right in the heart of the village is reflective of the real estate company’s active involvement in the local community.
Much has changed since Daniel Gale Real Estate was founded as a real estate and insurance agency on Main Street in what was then the small rural town of Huntington.
Like Huntington itself, the real estate company has gone through transformational growth over the last century, expanding to a $5.02 billion organization with 30 sales offices, more than 950 real estate advisors and more than 100 management and administrative staff members throughout Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
An exclusive affiliation with Sotheby’s International Realty on Long Island and in Queens has provided global reach and robust brand recognition. The company’s breadth of services has also expanded meteorically while its cutting-edge technology has revolutionized the way homes are marketed.
But some things have not changed in 100 years. The company remains family owned and committed to uncompromising ethics, professionalism and high-quality service to three district groups: its customers, its agents, and the communities it serves.
“For 100 years, we have stayed relevant by servicing these three groups at the highest level,” says Chief Executive Officer Deirdre O’Connell. “We chose the new location for our Huntington office with service to our clients, our agents and our community in mind.”
While the new, 2,800-square-foot space is a stone’s throw from where the original office stood, it is very different from not only that office but every Daniel Gale location since.
“Traditionally, real estate agents had their own desks, but with the advancement of technology and, particularly in the post-Covid world, agents can work from anywhere – home, their car or while on vacation,” O’Connell says. “We looked at the reasons agents come to the office – which is to collaborate with their colleagues, share ideas, attend training sessions and interact with the community.”
With these usages in mind, Daniel Gale created “an inviting, open space that fosters conversation and collaboration, with private offices for when needed and event space to welcome in the community whenever possible,” says Melissa Stark, sales manager for the Huntington office. The company relocated an existing office elsewhere in Huntington to the new location last summer.
The new setup features an open area with a generous amount of common desk space, where agents can plug in laptops. When agents are working on negotiations or want to meet privately with a client, they can duck into a conference room or one of three private offices.
There’s also open space, complete with a kitchen and island, for meetings, parties and other events. There is enough seating for all 46 agents on the roster, whether in the common space, kitchen and private areas, but typically only 20 to 30 agents will be in the office at any one time, Stark says. The office is open seven days a week.
True to Daniel Gale’s commitment to the community, the Huntington office hosted a different local business or nonprofit organization each month following its opening last summer.
During August, the office served as a pop-up shop for the newest iteration of the former Book Revue, Huntington’s beloved, long-standing independent bookstore that closed its doors in 2021. Now called The Next Chapter, the bookseller operated out of the office all month while searching for a permanent location.
In subsequent months, the office collected donations for Island Harvest, the hunger relief organization, and Pink Aid, the breast cancer charity. Most recently, the space has been used to prep for a fundraiser for the Daniel Gale Foundation, which was founded during Daniel Gale’s centennial year to centralize its charitable giving efforts.
“Over the last few weeks, we have been using the space to pack swag bags and put together raffle items for the fundraiser,” Stark says.
The Huntington office supports many other community organizations, including Huntington Hospital, Townwide Fund of Huntington, Helping Hand Rescue Mission and The Caumsett Foundation, among others, according to Stark. The space is also used for internal company events as well as meetings of the Daniel Gale Young Professionals Network.
