BOSTON -- A local developer has helped a South Korean businessman build a new city.

NewsCenter 5's Natalie Jacobson reported that Song Do City was built, in part, to help support a new airport in the country.

Gale International President John B. Hynes is the developer. He is the grandson of the man credited with building the new Boston -- which includes the Prudential Center and the Hynes Auditorium.

"He had to do something. He had to turn the city around, and much like what we are trying to do in Korea," Hynes said.

Song Do City is 35 miles from Seoul and 25 miles from the North Korean border. It will cost $25 billion and cover 1,500 acres. The city is the biggest private real estate venture in the world.

"After two years of planning, the trick, once we decided where every thing should go, the next trick is which goes first," Hynes said.

Korean officials wanted offices built first, but Hynes said they should attract residents with housing, schools, parks and a golf course. He said that the businesses would follow. To convince them, he brought the Koreans to Boston.

"Boston does enjoy a reputation of being a walking city and actually having a lot of those officials visit Boston over the last three years where we could actually walk from my office here in Post Office Square to the Prudential Center. You see the entire business center and it is the same size," Hynes said.

The similarities between Song Do and Boston are by design. It is built on a landfill, like Back Bay. There will be a mall, like Commonwealth Avenue.

"We started with Central Park. Underneath it is a 5,000-car parking garage. They thought that was brilliant -- putting all the parking underground, under a park," Hynes said. "Three is no skating rink yet, but that will come. We have a residential neighborhood, and both of those neighborhoods, and this is where the Korean culture comes into play, is anchored in the middle by a private school. The Koreans are absolutely crazy about education. Korea ranks No. 1 in the U.S. for students studying here, so they put a high premium on education. As a result, the most expensive real estate in and around Seoul is around the best schools."

If anyone had any doubts about attracting residents, the first sell off of condos was convincing.

"This is 4 million square feet, 65 stories, 2,500 units. We had 90,000 people come through it, the marketing center, of the first three days that the marketing center was open and we sold out all of the units in a week," Hynes said.

Hynes is also building in Boston. He has projects in the Seaport area and the downtown area of the city.

Song Do City should be up and running by 2014. The Koreans are banking the city will be the business hub of Northeast Asia.