Atlas Terminal,theshopsatatlaspark, Jim Henderson, Wiki

Henry Hemmerdinger built up his father Morris’ rag business from a small factory in Williamsburg to one of the largest scrap fabric processing businesses in the country, located in Glendale, Queens. The family history and that part of the story were detailed in the first part of the story of Atlas Terminal. Henry turned an old farmstead and some factory buildings in the heart of Glendale into an industrial park for his business and his many tenants. By the time of his death in 1946, Atlas Terminal employed thousands of people, all working in the thirty-one buildings in the park. Atlas was now one of Queen’s major employers.

Henry’s only child, Monroe inherited the family business. An heir can sometimes kill a business that his or her family invested their lives to build, or they can succeed beyond their parent’s wildest expectations. Monroe set out to be the latter kind of heir. He was the culmination of his parent’s hard work, the grandson of an immigrant success story. Monroe was the first in his family to attend college; he matriculated from the elite Horace Mann School to Brown University, where he was the captain of the Brown swimming team. Following college, he enlisted in the Navy during World War II.

After his father’s death in 1946, Monroe began making his mark on the company. He enlarged the Terminal in 1949, bringing the total number of buildings to 40, over 800,000 square feet of space. The terminal had its own railroad line snaking through it, eight miles of track, with a switching engine to guide the freight cars around. Railroads were the preferred method of transportation at the time, not trucks, and from the terminal, the various companies could load their goods, and transfer the cars to hook up with the freight trains on the LIRR Montauk line that would carry those goods across the country.

By the 1950s, Atlas Terminal was one of a handful of industrial parks left in New York City. Westinghouse, Kraft, General Electric and New York Telephone all had factory and/or warehouse space here here, along with many other smaller, and less well-known local companies. They provided jobs to thousands of people. Monroe was more interested in real estate than the fabric reprocessing business, so in 1952, he sold the rag business, and concentrated on real estate development, both here in New York City, as well as in Miami.

Like his father, Monroe loved yachting. He owned a yacht named the Gulf Stream which competed in races in Newport, RI. He also had another yacht that participated in the Olympics. Like his father, he belonged to the Knickerbocker Yacht Club. Mr. and Mrs. Hemmerdinger and their three sons and a daughter, lived on prestigious Sutton Place, in Manhattan. Monroe was a director of Polyclinic Hospital, was a president of the Brown University Club, in Manhattan, and the family had a summer home in Southampton.

Mr. Hemmerdinger began branching out into Manhattan real estate. In the mid-1950s he built two office buildings in midtown, 555 Fifth Avenue and 630 Third Avenue. Both buildings are still standing today. He was also building in Miami. Unfortunately, just as he was getting his stride, Monroe Hemmerdinger died suddenly at the age of 46, in 1962. In addition to his Atlas Terminals holdings, he had also been the chairman of the Automatic Steel Products, Inc. of Canton, Ohio. The company made automobile equipment.

After Monroe’s death, the family business was run by non-family members for five years, until the eldest son, Henry Dale Hemmerdinger stepped back into the company. One of his first jobs was to build a new building at the Atlas Terminals for his company’s growing offices. He razed the original farm house, which amazingly was still standing on the property, acquired way back in 1922 by his grandfather. In 1970, Dale became president of the company.

He changed the name from Atlas Terminals to Atco, to reflect the company’s expanded vision. The full name was Atco Properties & Management, Inc. Most of the terminal’s buildings were sprawling, low, one or two story buildings. By the 1980s, they were all feeling their age, and were reflecting many of the changes in the city. The major industries were leaving or long gone, and the present tenants represented very different kinds of businesses and concerns. Atco decided it was time for a major upgrade, and in 1986, they revamped the entire complex.

New roofs were put on the buildings, a new boiler system was installed, and the buildings were resurfaced and painted. The old railroad tracks had fallen into disuse, and were paved over for wide roads that could accommodate large 18 wheeler tractor trailer trucks. Many of the large warehouses were now shipping and distribution centers, so the need for wider roads was imperative in keeping the Terminals viable. Atco also rehabbed the original Atlas Waste Manufacturing building, home to Henry Hemmerdinger’s rag business. The reconstruction earned them an award from the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 1989.

The company also began investing in the Glendale community. Beginning in the 1990s, they began participating in winter holiday festivities, as well as working with local Boy Scout troops. They planted and maintain the trees around the terminal. The terminal itself may no longer call Westinghouse and Kraft tenants, but was still home to small local businesses that made products like lighting fixtures, knit goods and silk screened products. There were bakeries, small garment factories, leather goods manufacturers and food wholesalers. The terminal was also home to the offices of the Community School Board and the Queens Symphony Orchestra.

But many of the struggling companies just couldn’t make it, and Atlas Park was nearing the end of its life as a major industrial center. The Hemmerdingers decided to try retail. In 2006, the Shops at Atlas Park opened in Glendale. Four of the original industrial park’s buildings were renovated into the open air mall, while the remaining sixteen buildings were torn down for a park. The center of the complex is at Cooper Avenue and 80th Street.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the economy was set for a major recession. The entire world of retail stores took a big hit, and by 2009, the mall was in foreclosure. It was purchased in February of 2011 for $54 million. The buyers were the Macerich Company, out of California, one of the largest shopping center corporations in the country, with 95 malls in 19 states. They have been working on the mall ever since, investing millions into making it work.

As for Atco? The company’s focus is now real estate and property development and management. Six service divisions were added to the roster under Dale’s leadership, as well as overseas investment. Today, Dale’s children Damon and Kate have also joined the business, and are both co-presidents, with their father as chairman. They are among the largest and most successful family-run real estate concerns in the country. Great-grandfather Morris Hemmerdinger, the German Jewish immigrant who arrived on these shored with little more than a dream and great determination, would be very proud. GMAP

(Photo:Jim Henderson for Wikipedia. The Shops at Atlas Park. This article could not have been written without mention of the Juniper Park Civic Association’s fine article on the subject, which was the source of some of the information. )

Atlas Terminal. Photo: Juniper Civic Association.
Atlas Terminal. Photo: Juniper Civic Association.

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment