Draper and Kramer was begun as a partnership in 1893, by Arthur W. Draper and Adolph F. Kramer, with the aim of providing real estate financing and management services to the rapidly growing city. Incorporated in 1927, today we’re involved in the development, marketing, management and financing of office buildings, retail facilities, multi-unit residential properties, industrial complexes and shopping centers.

Our people are interwoven with the re-emergence of Chicago as a thriving metropolis.

In the late 1950’s and 1960’s, Draper and Kramer helped to radically alter the face of Chicago’s near south side. We developed the 1,700-apartment community, Prairie Shores, located between two major hospitals. We consulted with New York Life Insurance Company in the development of the 2,009-apartment community Lake Meadows. This community was the first federally mandated urban redevelopment project in the country. These successful urban redevelopment undertakings were major factors in Michael Reese Hospital’s decision to remain at its south side location.

When the University of Chicago recognized a need for economically priced housing for its faculty following WWII, Draper and Kramer responded. We developed and managed apartment communities targeted to their needs. That successful Hyde Park development continues to meet the needs of the University of Chicago community today.

Draper and Kramer continues to be a major factor in the rebirth of Chicago's South Side.

In the 1980’s, a consortium of Chicago’s largest and most esteemed corporations, financial institutions and leaders, including Ferd Kramer, set a goal to revitalize Chicago. By that time shoppers had abandoned south State Street. Restaurants had folded and theaters went dark. But through this group's planning, Chicago’s Dearborn Park emerged and created a formula that other cities use to turn fallow land into vibrant, thriving neighborhoods. Click here to learn more about At Home in the Loop by Pulitzer Prize winning author Lois Wille.

Just north of the Loop and a block from Michigan Avenue, Draper and Kramer set the tone for a whole new shopping and residential mecca. The dramatically beautiful new apartment building, appropriately called The Chicagoan was built at the corner of Rush Street and Chicago Avenue, and immediately won numerous architectural and other awards. Recent Streetervillle condominium conversions include 401 East Ontario and The Grand Ohio.