Sol Atlas


Sol Geoffrey Atlas was an American real estate developer.

Biography

Atlas was the son of Fanny "Faigel" and Abraham Atlas. In 1959, he bid $671,000 for Ellis Island and proposed to turn it into a $55 million resort consisting of a 600‐room hotel, marina, music shell, tennis courts, swimming pools and skating rinks; the government turned down his bid. He partnered with John P. McGrath on numerous projects in Manhattan including the 50-story 1 New York Plaza and the 40-story 2 New York Plaza near Battery Park. He was responsible for the Miracle Mile center at Manhasset; the North Shore Center in Great Neck; the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers; the Essex Green Shopping Center in West Orange, New Jersey; and the Connecticut Post Mall at Milford, Connecticut. He also built 200 East End Avenue, which was the first air‐conditioned apartment building in the city.
Atlas was a founder of the Inter Council of Shopping Centers; and was a lecturer at Yale University Law School and for the New York Board of Real Estate Appraisers. In 1969, Yeshiva University named him "Man of the Year" and received the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Founders Award.

Personal life

Atlas was married to Edythe Samuels; they had a daughter, Sandra Atlas Bass. Atlas lived in Kings Point, New York. He died of a stroke on July 30, 1971 at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, New York. His wife died in 1978. His daughter is the president of Sol G. Atlas Realty Company and is a philanthropist.