New Atlas Park manager to focus on mid-level retailers

The upscale Queens mall Atlas Park, which is facing foreclosure, will shift its focus to middle-end retailers and may cut fees for one-hour parking to draw more shoppers, its new management said. The mall opened in Glendale in 2006 under the ownership of Atco Properties & Management, which is run by the family of MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger. When the Hemmerdingers defaulted on a $128 million loan from two French banks, the banks assigned Paul Millus as the mall’s receiver to collect rent and run day-to-day operations. Millus said he plans to take the mall in a different direction, naming the Gap, Aeropostale and Urban Outfitters as stores he would consider giving space in the mall, and said a foreclosure sale is expected in early 2010.