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1663-33 Art Deco/Preservation THU JUL 16 1992 ED: FINAL SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 18 LENGTH: 32 .52" LONG ILLUST: photo: Leonard Beach Hotel (Thomas KRAMER) , Thomas KRAMER; color photo: Thomas KRAMER; map: Leonard Beach Hotel SOURCE: BONNIE WESTON Herald Staff Writer DATELINE: MEMO: NEWS FEATURE MAKING HIS POINTE A German developer is attempting something no one has been able to do -- bringing the most southern part of South Beach back to life. With property purchases of $20 million, he ' s ready to start . . . Developer Kay Statz describes his first meeting with Thomas Kramer as "typical" Miami Beach -- typical for a chance encounter that led to a $20 million investment in the city' s most rundown district. In early January, Statz met a friend for lunch on Ocean Drive. Kramer walked by. The friend, who had recently met Kramer, hailed him and introduced him to Statz . "We got to talking, " said Statz, president of a Beach development company. "I 'm German. He ' s German. We ' re much the same age. The next day, we were out checking property. " Kramer did more than check. He launched a spending spree. In the past six months, he ' s spent $20 million buying property in South Pointe, the city' s shabby southern tip. Kramer' s investments include nearly an entire block on Ocean Drive between First and Biscayne streets, 16 condominiums in South Pointe Towers, 14 oceanfront acres next door, and the Ocean Haven and Leonard Beach hotels. "I liked what I saw, " said Kramer, 35 . He spent another $5 million on a house and a vacant lot on Indian Creek Drive. Now Miami Beach is watching to see if the international commodities trader, who acknowledges he has no experience as a developer, can do what the city and seasoned developers haven' t done: Make South Pointe happen. Miami Beach has been trying since 1973, the year South Pointe was designated a redevelopment district. This gave city officials the power to buy property needed for development through condemnation and sell bonds to pay for millions in structural improvements to spur private development. The results have been mixed and controversial. The new City Commission has promised to come up with a new approach. The original plan called for the entire district to be flattened and rebuilt as a tropical Venice, complete with winding canals . A public-private partnership to develop the city marina made headway, but dissolved in legal battles settled by the city for about $5 million last year. The Beach has also spent about $6 million condemning property to launch a private townhouse project that was supposed to break ground two years ago. That has yet to happen. In 1989 , plans for a public parking garage were shelved when the Marriott Corp. said it wanted the site as part of a massive resort development. After lots of talk and more delay, the resort plan fizzled. When Kramer saw South Pointe for the first time this year, he didn' t see a high-rise resort or an American Venice. He saw Portofino, the tiny, carefully preserved and immensely popular gem of the Italian Riviera. Miami Beach lacks the Italian city' s dramatic cliffs and mountain backdrop, but Kramer said it has Portofino' s key ingredients: intense light, ocean on three sides, and an intimate, small-town feel at the center of a cosmopolitan community. He ' s bought most of his land through his company, the Portofino Group, and has borrowed the Portofino name for his South Pointe development. Beyond that, Kramer' s plan is vague. But he promises this: no high-rises and no slash-and-burn development. He wants to mix old and new buildings and fill them with stores, restaurants and cafes at street level, and with hotel rooms and apartments above. Kramer said the project will take between five and 10 years to complete. The budget is in the hundreds of millions. So far, he said he ' s spending his own money. He will need outside investors, but declined to say more about his past or his future. He said previous newspaper stories painted an unfair portrait of several of his business dealings in Europe and New York, spooking Europeans ready to invest in the project. For the most part, South Pointe ' s usually skeptical landowners and residents are reacting to Kramer' s quiet invasion with unusual calm. After years of promises but little action from developers seeking the city' s assistance, they say they care less about how Kramer plans to proceed or his scant development experience than what he ' s already doing. He' s paid cash for their property. He ' s bulldozing ruined buildings. He hasn't asked for money or favors from the city. And he ' s starting by restoring and expanding landmark hotels. "To his everlasting credit, Mr. Kramer has not asked for one cent from the public, which I find remarkable, " said George Lowander, a South Pointe activist who sold an apartment building to Kramer. "He' s torn down some eyesores. If he never develops anything, we ' re ahead. " Herman Rubin, who lives in South Pointe Towers and serves with Lowander on the city' s South Pointe Advisory Board, fiercely opposed Marriott ' s resort proposal. "I see no reason to fight Mr. Kramer, " Rubin said. "He' s a quiet neighbor. And if he follows through, great. If he doesn' t, I see no loss. " Kramer' s first visible project will be a $4 million remake of the Ocean Haven Hotel, a 1939 Art Deco structure at 155 Ocean Dr. Statz , now vice president of Kramer' s Portofino Group, is overseeing the project. He said work will start immediately if architectural plans are approved by the city this week. The plans call for a complete overhaul of the building, but little structural change. The ground floor will include a cafe along Ocean Drive and a full restaurant facing the beach. The two will be linked by an open courtyard making the beach visible from the street. There will also be offices, conference rooms, but fewer hotel rooms -- 60 instead of 84 . And most of the third-floor rooms will have spiral staircases leading to rooftop terraces. If the city has no objections, work will begin immediately, Statz said. Next up is a remake of the Leonard Beach Hotel, just a block south at 54 Ocean Dr. He said that plan, still being drafted, calls for largely new construction, but the hotel ' s 1928 facade and indoor courtyard will be restored. "Thomas is not a developer, but I think anyone can now see that if he' s going to do something, he does it, " Statz said. "No bull. No second thoughts . It ' s a nice feeling. " Kramer paid a courtesy call on Miami Beach City Manager Roger Carlton about two months ago and showed him a sketch of his ideas. "The Portofino concept he showed me was very, very positive, " Carlton said. "Lower rise, but upscale. Filling out the details comes next. " ADDED TERMS: mb south beach sobe END OF DOCUMENT.