Joe Soley on lower Exchange Street in Portland in 1999. At the time, he owned buildings on both sides of the street. John Patriquin/Portland Press Herald

Joseph Soley, a well-known and at times controversial landlord and developer in Portland, died Thursday surrounded by his family. He was 93.

Soley, who moved to Portland in the late 1970s and built a real estate empire in the city’s now-famous Old Port, had continued working full-time until about eight weeks ago when he became ill, his son David Soley said.

“There’s a point where your body just gives out,” said David Soley, a Portland attorney. “He was surrounded by family. We were all there, holding his hand.”

Soley was born in New York City in 1931. He left in 1948 to study biology and medical science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

In Baltimore, Soley fell in love – with his future wife, Barbara Berman, and with real estate development. Soley developed apartments and retail centers throughout the Baltimore metropolitan region.

The couple had four children before Barbara Soley died of cancer in 1967 after 14 years of marriage.

Joseph Soley moved to Maine full-time in 1976 and left only briefly to get a masters degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he co-founded the MIT Center for Real Estate, according to his obituary.

Joe Soley, real estate magnate in Portland’s Old Port, stands for a photo on Fore Street in May 1997. John Ewing/Portland Press Herald

Soley, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War, was a big fan of the arts and was fascinated with the history and architecture of Portland and other cities in which he lived, David Soley said.

The Old Port was more of a gritty, rough-and-tumble place in the 1970s and 1980s. But a concerted effort by city officials and private developers such as Soley transformed the Old Port from a place to be avoided to a world-class destination, filled with award-winning restaurants, art galleries, shops, hotels and condominiums.

The last decade has ushered in the most development activity since the rebuilding efforts after the Great Fire of 1866, which destroyed about two-thirds of the Portland peninsula.

Soley was involved in some of the recent developments, even when his name was not attached.

“He loved the way it was going,” David Soley said. “Obviously his sons and grandsons have also done a lot of development, so he was involved in a lot of that.”

Despite his wealth and real estate holdings, which included commercial properties in South Portland, Soley would often be humbly dressed and walking the streets, talking to his tenants or holding court in a convenience store at the corner of Fore and Exchange streets that functioned as his office.

“He loved Portland. He loved architecture. He loved art,” David Soley said. “He tended to be controversial and always had opinions and thoughts. He worked very closely with people who were very successful, and he worked very closely with people who sort of roamed the streets of Portland.”

Joe Soley speaks to reporters following the judgment in a lawsuit against him filed by tenants of one of his buildings in June 1999. File photo

In 2023, Soley bought the People’s United Bank Building at 465 Congress St., a 10-story building that is credited as being the city’s first skyscraper.

At the time, Soley told the Press Herald that he became enamored with the building when he first rode from Baltimore to Portland on his motorcycle.

“When I first saw that building, I went totally bonkers,” he said. “It’s the most attractive building, I think, in Maine.”

Soley, who at the time owned seven properties on Exchange Street as well as other nearby properties, had a contentious relationship with city officials.

In 2009, the city evicted residents in 24 of Soley’s apartments on Exchange Street because of fire code violations. A decade earlier, Soley was fined for seizing the belongings of residents in an Exchange Street apartment building after they refused to pay rent while demanding that the landlord fix problems.

“He wasn’t always a friend of the governments,” David Soley said. “He believed government should be there to support better cities. He didn’t really have one political party. He just believed that government was there to serve the people and to grow the town.”

Soley was also an art buff and collector. In 2013, thieves stole six N.C. Wyeth paintings owned by Soley. The last two were recovered in 2015.

Soley would often discuss the city’s growth and evolution with other developers in his corner store, his son said.

“Most of the developers who have any local connection – I’ve always seen them over at the Corner Store talking to him,” David Soley said. “They might go along; they might not, but they always argued about their different thoughts.”