Sol Geoffrey Atlas (1907–1973) was an American real estate developer.

Biography

Atlas was the son of Fanny "Faigel" (née Anczkowski) and Abraham Atlas (formerly Atlasowicz). He dropped out of high school and went to work with his father. In 1959, he bid $671,000 for

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...

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 Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

including the 50-story

1 New York Plaza 1 New York Plaza is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of South and Whitehall Streets near South Ferry. The building, measuring tall with 50 floors, is the southernmost skyscraper in ...

and the 40-story

2 New York Plaza 125 Broad Street (formerly known as 2 New York Plaza) is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of Broad Street and South Street near South Ferry. The building, standing tall with 40 f ...

near

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

. He was responsible for the ''

Miracle Mile Miracle Mile may refer to: Places in the United States * Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, a district of Los Angeles * Miracle Mile (Coral Gables), a shopping area in Coral Gables, Florida * Miracle Mile (Manhasset), New York, a premium sho ...

'' center at Manhasset; the North Shore Center in

Great Neck Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...

; the

Cross County Shopping Center Cross County Center, also known as Cross County Shopping Center, an open-air shopping mall located at the junction of the NYS Thruway and Cross County Parkway, in the Kimball neighborhood of Yonkers, New York, United States. The mall hosts over 1 ...

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

; the Essex Green Shopping Center in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

; and the

Connecticut Post Mall Connecticut Post Mall (formerly known as Westfield Connecticut Post) is a shopping mall, located on the Boston Post Road ( Route 1) in Milford, Connecticut. It is currently the largest mall in the state of Connecticut and is partially owned and op ...

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...

. 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 Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

and for the New York Board of Real Estate Appraisers. In 1969,

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

named him "Man of the Year" and he received the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

Founders Award. He was active in the

United Jewish Appeal The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Cou ...

and the

Federation of Jewish Philanthropies UJA-Federation of New York (United Jewish Appeal⁣ – ⁣Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc.) is the largest local philanthropy in the world. Headquartered in New York City, the organization raises and allocates funds annually ...

Personal life

In 1927, he married Edythe Samuels; they had a daughter, Sandra Atlas Bass. Atlas lived in

Kings Point, New York Kings Point is a village located on the Great Neck Peninsula in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 5,005 at the 2010 census. History The Village of Ki ...

. He died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on July 30, 1973, at

North Shore Hospital North Shore Hospital is a large public hospital in Takapuna, New Zealand, serving the northern part of Auckland. Located on Shakespeare Road near Lake Pupuke, it is administered by the Waitemata District Health Board, which provides health servi ...

Manhasset Manhasset is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in D ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Services were held at Temple Beth-El in

. His wife died in 1978. His daughter is the owner of the Sol G. Atlas Realty Company and is a philanthropist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlas, Sol 1907 births 1973 deaths 20th-century American Jews American real estate businesspeople