Thomas Kramer (born April 27, 1957) is a German-born real estate developer and venture capitalist, noteworthy for his part in the redevelopment of

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. Thomas Kramer's development projects include the

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, the Portofino Tower, the Murano Grande, and the

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Biography

Kramer is the son of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

stockbroker Willi Kramer. He attended the Salem Boarding School. Then he took a brokerage apprenticeship in London and became a licensed broker. He joined his father's firm, before moving on to Shearson Lehman Brothers. He founded his own company in 1986, TK Kapitalverwaltung GmbH. In the early 1990s, Kramer purchased for $45 million large portions of South Pointe, the southern tip of South Beach, a high-crime and poverty-stricken area. The deal allowed him to consolidate his holdings in a land swap. It also cleared zoning to allow the erection of the tallest buildings south of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.Boyd, Christopher. "Sturm und Drang, South Beach-style. (German investor-turned real estate developer Thomas Kramer)." ''Florida Trend''. 1996. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011). The whole area was turned into a premier residential area."Miami Beach, Fla., neighborhood nears point of build-out." ''Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News''. 2004. HighBeam Research. (January 18, 2011). In 2000, Verena von Mitschke-Collande and Claudia Miller-Otto, daughters of Siegfried Otto whose step-daughter was briefly married to Thomas Kramer, won a $90 million settlement against Kramer in a Swiss court. The plaintiffs had financed Thomas Kramer's real estate purchases in Miami, but when they intended to collect their money in 1995, Thomas Kramer tried to overturn the request and lost. When The Otto daughters launched the collect request in Florida, which included his 1.84 acres of Miami properties, Thomas Kramer transferred the majority of his assets to the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. In 2013, Kramer signed an agreement with Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz to build the first-ever Island City in Karachi, Pakistan, the ''Bundal & Buddo Islands'', a deal worth US$20 billion. The deal fell through since Kramer failed to provide the necessary funds. Kramer was subjected to a record fine for an individual from the

Federal Elections Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Camp ...

. He donated to political candidates as a foreign citizen. This is illegal under United States

campaign finance laws Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Political parties, charitable organizations, and political act ...

. He claimed he had been unaware of the prohibition, pointing out that he is a prominent, public figure and known to be a German citizen."RECORD CAMPAIGN FINE OF $323,000 IS LEVIED AGAINST GERMAN DONOR.(News)."Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Thomson Scientific, Inc. 1997. HighBeam Research. January 18, 2011."Record $323,000 Fine Levied by FEC; German Businessman Gave Illegally to Democrats and Republicans."The Washington Post. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Co. 1997. HighBeam Research (January 18, 2011). He turned himself in to the FEC and immediately requested the refund of all political donations. The imposed fine was agreed upon as part of a voluntary conciliation agreement with the FEC. Howard Glicken pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from the circumstance. He admitted soliciting donations from Kramer when he knew that Kramer was not a U.S. citizen.Hopkins, Kara. "Friend of Al admits raising illegal foreign money." Human Events. Human Events Publishing Inc. 1998. HighBeam Research. 18 January 2011 In a hearing report made public in 2014, Thomas Kramer explained that he had lost all financial liability since that event. In August 2017, his house on Star Island was auctioned and sold for $40 million.

Other activities

Thomas Kramer was appeared on the third season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and the second season of The Real Housewives of Miami.

Philanthropy

Thomas Kramer created the Thomas Kramer Foundation, his main charitable vehicle. He regularly rents out his Star Island mansion for charity events. In 1992, Thomas Kramer purchased the ''Woman in an Armchair'', painted in 1932 by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, for $2.86 million, well below the expected price of $3.5 million to $4.5 million."Museum in Texas Buys a Matisse for $11 Million". ''The New York Times''. 1992. HighBeam Research (January 18, 2011).

Personal life

He was married to Catherine Burda, daughter of Franz Burda II, the son of Franz Burda I, founder of a well-known German publishing house.

Footnotes

External links