Marvin Kratter (born November 9, 1915, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, died October 24, 1999, in

Encinitas, California Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between ...

) was a New York-based

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

who was the head of the Kratter Corporation, National Equities, Countrywide Realty, Knickerbocker Brewery, Rom-American Pharmaceuticals, and the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Kratter graduated from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

(1937) and

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

(1939). Kratter started his career as a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

in New York City. He moved to

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in the 1930s and he started a

dude ranch A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism. History Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...

, Rancho del Rio Estates, in 1945. Kratter's ranch went bankrupt in 1949 and he moved back to New York City, where he became one of the first to practice real estate syndication. In 1956, Kratter bought

Ebbets Field Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five p ...

from

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

owner

Walter O'Malley Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league b ...

. He leased Ebbets Field back to O'Malley until the team left for

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

after the 1957 season. After purchasing the air rights to the

Trans-Manhattan Expressway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Yor ...

entrance to the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United St ...

on the Manhattan side, Kratter built the

Bridge Apartments The Bridge Apartments are four high-rise apartment buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Built between 1961 and 1964, they are notable for rising from concrete platforms directly above the Trans-Manhattan Expr ...

in 1961. The project consisted of four 32-story buildings built over the expressway and were some of the first aluminum-sheathed high-rise structures built in the world. In 1960, Kratter demolished Ebbets Field and in 1962, built the 1,327-apartment Ebbets Field Apartments under the Mitchell-Lama program which gave developers

tax break Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fis ...

s and low-interest mortgages to build middle-class housing. Kratter also developed the St. Tropez, one of the first condominium apartment buildings in the city and owned the St. Regis Hotel and the Knickerbocker Brewery. From 1965 to 1968, Kratter was the owner of the

. Kratter also speculated in land in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Personal life

He was married to Lillian Rosenbloom.New York Times: "Rosenblum—Eva"
April 5, 1964, p. 87. ''"The Officers, Directors and Employes of The Kratter Corporation extend their heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Lillian Kratter, wife of our esteemed President and Chairman of the Board, Marvin Kratter, on the loss of her mother, Mrs. Eva Rosenblum. The Kratter Corporation"'' In 1977, Kratter released a solo album ''What I Did for Love'' under the name Mark Matthews. They had two sons, Leslie Kratter and David E. Kratter, and a daughter, Sherry Santa Cruz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kratter, Marvin 1915 births 1999 deaths American real estate businesspeople Boston Celtics owners Brooklyn College alumni Brooklyn Law School alumni National Basketball Association owners People from Brooklyn People from Encinitas, California Businesspeople from Tucson, Arizona Real estate and property developers 20th-century American businesspeople