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20-569: Developed by Sol Atlas , Cross County Center opened in 1954 as one of the nation's first open-air shopping destinations. Its parking lot was built atop a former peat bog. The 72-acre site included the Cross County Hospital in the middle of the mall campus complete with a rooftop helipad (the hospital closed in the early 1980s). The original anchor stores were Gimbels (later Stern's , now Macy's ), John Wanamaker (later Sears , now Target ), and F. W. Woolworth Company . Woolworth operated

40-717: A stroke on July 30, 1973, at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset , New York . Services were held at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck . His wife died in 1978. His daughter is the owner of the Sol G. Atlas Realty Company and is a philanthropist. LensCrafters LensCrafters is an international retailer of prescription eyewear and prescription sunglasses . Its stores usually host independent optometrists on-site or in an adjacent store. The company has its corporate headquarters in Mason, Ohio ,

60-599: 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 ;

80-501: A hostile takeover attempt of United States Shoe CorporationU.S. Shoe , with the goal of acquiring LensCrafters. Luxottica announced in April 1995, that it had reached an agreement to purchase U.S. Shoe for $ 1.4 billion. Luxottica acquired Pearle Vision in 2004, combining the country's two largest eyewear retailers. Though most locations can still provide glasses and frames same-day, that line of business has become de-emphasized over time for

100-402: A main store and a garden store in the mall (the former is now mall space, while the latter was converted to Odd-Job Trading before becoming Old Navy ). The 1981 CBS TV movie Bill starring Mickey Rooney had the scene with Santa Claus filmed here. Starting in 2007, Cross County Center underwent a new development and upgrade overseen by The Macerich Company on behalf of the mall's owners, which

120-553: A suburb of Cincinnati in the US. LensCrafters has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Luxottica (which has since merged with Essilor to form EssilorLuxottica ), the largest eyewear company in the world, since 1995. At the end of 2018, Luxottica operated 1,158 LensCrafters stores, of which 1,050 are located in North America and 108 are located in China, Hong Kong and India. LensCrafters

140-537: Is the official name of the shopping center. Adjacent to Cross County Center, at 750 Central Park Avenue, is a shopping center called The Mall at Cross County , which hosts a variety of stores and a large covered parking garage. Current tenants include Michaels , Marshalls , T.J. Maxx , HomeGoods , and Micro Center . The mall first opened in 1987 as Cross County Square and had different stores than today, such as Thriftway Drug, Finders Keepers, Crazy Eddie , plus various specialty stores and restaurants. Before 2009,

160-760: 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

180-597: The United States Shoe Corporation in 1984. Butler remained as LensCrafters' CEO until 1988. LensCrafters had just three locations when U.S. Shoe purchased it; by 1989, there were 350 locations, and LensCrafters was generating 40% of U.S. Shoe's operating income. In 1992, LensCrafters surpassed Pearle Vision to become the largest chain of eyeglass retailers in the United States, with roughly $ 660 million in annual revenue. In 1995, Luxottica launched

200-573: The catwalk around some second floor stores has been permanently removed. All of the smaller stores, such a those that housed cookie shops and lingerie stores, have been demolished. Nearby buildings have been extended, and one parking lot now faces several large stores. The former Cross County Hospital and Office building was reconstructed for a Hyatt Place hotel, with 155 rooms, an indoor pool, cocktails bar, business center and fitness center in 2015. In 2010, Red Lobster opened, and in 2015, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse restaurants opened. On

220-465: The Mall at Cross County location. In November 2022, Burlington opened a store in the space formerly occupied by Century 21. The National Wholesale Liquidators location, which was housed in a separate structure attached to the rest of the mall, closed in 2017 after a construction accident occurred when a front-loader fell through the unused portion of the roof parking deck on top of the store. The building

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240-792: The New York Board of Real Estate Appraisers. In 1969, Yeshiva University named him "Man of the Year" and he received the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Founders Award. He was active in the United Jewish Appeal and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies . In 1927, he married Edythe Samuels; they had a daughter, Sandra Atlas Bass. Atlas lived in Kings Point, New York . He died of

260-423: The location of the former Sears store. The store had its ribbon cut on October 18, and opened 4 days later. The mall has long been owned by Brooks Shopping Center LLC, jointly owned by Marx Realty and Benenson Capital Partners, and was managed by Macerich since 2006. On January 17, 2020, Westfair Communications reported that Marx Realty took over the mall's leasing and management from Macerich. In late 2021, it

280-502: The mall also hosted a Circuit City on the second floor. In 2010, Micro Center opened where the Circuit City was. Prior to 2017, the mall hosted a variety of stores and restaurants such as National Wholesale Liquidators , LensCrafters , Powerhouse Gym , GNC , Payless ShoeSource , Nail Pro, Pizza In The Square, Subway , Pretzel Time , and TCBY on the first floor, and Sports Authority , Kid City, Ideal Jewelers, and Sleepy's on

300-406: The north side of the mall, Wilsker's restaurant was located, and it was a diner. On June 6, 2019, it was announced that Sears would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its brick-and-mortar format. Target signed a 40-year lease for 132,000 sq. ft. of space in the previous Sears outpost. On September 13, 2023, Target announced that they will open their first store on October 22 on

320-512: The second floor. Before 2004, the mall also hosted a Kids "R" Us , which was the children's clothing chain owned by the Toys "R" Us brand. In 2017, it was announced that, as part of a $ 10,000,000 renovation to the mall, Century 21 would open a store which covered up the whole interior part of the mall, closing all of the previous tenants mentioned above. On September 10, 2020, it was announced that Century 21 would be closing all of its stores, including

340-459: Was announced that Westchester Community College would expand their current Yonkers campus by opening up a concept at Cross County on the third floor of the previous Sears outpost. WCC will add 30,000 square feet of space, using it to build new lab spaces, and new design school, and expand their current academic offerings at the campus. The WCC expansion opened in November 2022. "Cross County Center"

360-424: Was completed in 2012. The huge building that now houses Macy's Department Store (that was initially Gimbel's and then Stern's) has been enlarged by one third. It also features a new covered parking lot that is almost as large as the store; the underground loading complex has also been enlarged. The buildings housing the stores on Mall Walk have been renovated and look different, externally, than they did previously, and

380-459: Was founded in March 1983 by E. Dean Butler, who had been a manager with Procter & Gamble . Butler first developed the idea for a "while you wait" eyeglass retailer after helping a Procter & Gamble colleague produce television commercials for a family optical business in the late 1970s. LensCrafters achieved sales of $ 2 million in its first year of operation before Butler sold the company to

400-553: Was subsequently condemned and demolished, with plans to rebuild a new store. However, no timeline was disclosed for the construction of the new store, and as of 2021, the lot is still empty and construction has not begun. Sol Atlas Sol Geoffrey Atlas (1907–1973) was an American real estate developer. 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 and proposed to turn it into

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