Billionaire developer Sheldon Solow, the man behind recognizable Manhattan projects such as the eponymous Solow Building at 9 West 57th St., died Nov. 17. He was 92. Solow’s residential holdings included One and Two Sutton Place North and the Solow Townhouses, according to his company website.
The Solow Building, with a glass concave edifice and unobstructed views of Central Park, is one of the most recognizable buildings in the city. Standing at nearly 700 feet tall, it’s also one of the 100-tallest buildings in New York City.
Solow was also behind the attempted development of the largest underdeveloped, privately owned plot of land in Manhattan, according to an obituary in the New York Times. The late developer had plans to turn the 9.2-acre plot south of the U.N. building — the site of a former power plant — into seven towers.
The $4 billion project was still in the approval phase and remained undeveloped at the time of his death.
Solow began his career by developing a rental unit in Far Rockaway, before moving onto residential development in Long Island in the 1960s, according to Bloomberg.
In September of this year, Forbes pegged Solow’s net worth at approximately $4.4 billion, making him the 167th wealthiest American.
Stefan Soloviev, Solow’s son who goes by an older spelling of the family name, too served as the executive vice president of Solow Building Company, under his father, and was in line to take over the company after spending more than two decades working at the firm.
