Geoff Palmer | |
---|---|
Born | Geoffrey Harrison Palmer May 11, 1950 |
Alma mater | University of Colorado, Boulder, Pepperdine University |
Occupation | Real estate developer |
Spouse | Anne Emerich |
Children | 1 |
Geoffrey Harrison Palmer [1] (born May 11, 1950) [2] [3] is an American billionaire real estate developer and Republican donor.
Palmer is the son of architect and developer Daniel Saxon Palmer, who was born as Dan Weissinger in Budapest, Hungary, in 1920. [4] [5] He is of Jewish descent. [6] He was raised in Malibu, California. [7] Palmer attended Santa Monica College before transferring to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he earned a degree in finance. [8] Palmer then earned a juris doctor from Pepperdine School of Law. [8]
After clerking for a California superior court judge, Palmer decided to pursue real estate development of multifamily housing instead of law as a profession, founding GH Palmer Associates in 1978. [8] Palmer opened his first major development in Santa Clarita, California in 1985. [7] During the 1990s, Palmer focused on building more than 2000 market-rate housing in downtown Los Angeles and its suburbs. [9]
In 2001, Palmer completed the 632-unit Medici, the first of a series of downtown Italian-inspired apartment blocks situated beside freeways, [10] [11] which coincided with a revival of downtown Los Angeles. [12] Other buildings in the "Renaissance Collection" built by Palmer include the Orsini, Visconti, Piero, Da Vinci, and Lorenzo. [11]
In 2006, Palmer applied for the Piero II, a mixed-use project, and requested that the City waive the affordable housing requirements. [13] The City denied the waiver and Palmer sued it (Palmer/Sixth Street Properties LP v. City of Los Angeles), claiming the City's affordable housing zoning requirements in the Central City West specific plan violated the Costa-Hawkins Act. [14] In 2009, the California Court of Appeal ruled that "as applied to Palmer's proposed project, the affordable housing ordinance conflicts with and is preempted by the vacancy decontrol provisions of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act." [14]
The City later sued Palmer for negligence after another development, the Da Vinci, intentionally set fire by an arsonist currently in jail, damaged the adjacent freeway and a nearby city government building, eventually settling the case for $400,000. [15]
Palmer's most recent building, Broadway Palace Apartments, was completed in early 2017. Broadway Palace Apartments is designed in the Beaux-Arts style with a plaster and cast concrete ground level and top story, separated from the terracotta brick middle stories by string courses[ clarification needed ], moldings and changes in materials. Notable features include arched openings along the top story, dentils, brackets, pilasters and capitals. The facade fenestration and articulation resembles the historic 1920s-era buildings located on Broadway but different enough to appear new.
Palmer has clashed with local government officials and activists, in part due to criticism of the style of his apartment buildings. [11] [16] Councilman Ed Reyes also criticized Palmer for the accidental destruction of an 1887 Victorian-style building. [11] In 2015, Eddie Kim of the Los Angeles Downtown News described Palmer as both the "most prolific" and "most controversial" developer in downtown Los Angeles. [17]
Palmer, a strong opponent of mandatory affordable housing requirements for real estate development, appears in the Paradise Papers in connection with a Bermuda offshore company to hold the registration for his private jet, which is done for security and maintenance reasons, yet he still pays the required California assesses property taxes on aircraft, which Bermuda does not. [18]
Palmer is worth an estimated US$3 billion. [19]
In 1991, Palmer paid an administrative $30,000 fine after being accused of money-laundering campaign contributions in order to prevent the incorporation of Santa Clarita. [7] Palmer donated $500,000 to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and $2 million to Rebuilding America Now political action committee (PAC) during Donald Trump's presidential campaign. [7] Palmer has also donated to American Crossroads, the Republican National Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee. [7] GH Palmer & Associates contributed $5,005,400 to the 2016 Trump campaign. [20] On September 17, 2019, Palmer hosted a fundraiser with President Trump at Palmer's home. [21]
In 2020, Palmer was selected by President Trump to participate in the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups. Palmer was a major financier of the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, contributing $1.2 million to the campaign to recall Gavin Newsom and supporting radio host Larry Elder to replace him. [22] [23]
Palmer is married to Anne Emerich, who was born in Paris, and they have a son. [24] [25] In 2016, Palmer and his family were living in Burton E. Green's former residence in Beverly Hills, California, with another property in Saint-Tropez, France. [24] Palmer plays competitive polo. [26]
He is a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He is a contributor to the Pepperdine School of Law and has endowed The Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law.[ citation needed ]
Pepperdine University is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. Founded by entrepreneur George Pepperdine in South Los Angeles in 1937, the school expanded to Malibu in 1972. Courses are now taught at a main Malibu campus, three graduate campuses in Southern California, a center in Washington, DC, and international campuses in Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, United Kingdom; Heidelberg, Germany; Florence, Italy; and Lausanne, Switzerland.
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AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides health care to individuals living with HIV/AIDS and organizes campaigns to block housing construction in California. As of 2022, it operates about 400 clinics, 64 outpatient healthcare centers, 48 pharmacies, and 20 Out of the Closet thrift stores across 15 US states and 45 countries, with more than 5,000 employees, and provides care to more than 1.7 million patients.
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Claud W. Beelman, sometimes known as Claude Beelman, was an American architect who designed many examples of Beaux-Arts, Art Deco, and Streamline Moderne style buildings. Many of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Guilford Glazer was an American real estate developer and philanthropist.
The Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law is the law school of Pepperdine University, a private research university in Los Angeles County, California. The school offers the Juris Doctor (JD), and various Masters of Laws (LLM) options in Dispute Resolution, International Commercial Arbitration, United States Law, and Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law. The school also offers joint degrees with its JD and Master of Dispute Resolution (MDR) in partnership with other Pepperdine University graduate schools. The school now offers an online Master of Legal Studies program and an online Master of Dispute Resolution program.
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Rick Joseph Caruso is an American businessman. A billionaire, he is the founder and former chief executive officer of Caruso, an American real-estate company. He is the chair of the board of trustees at the University of Southern California and was previously the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission and a member of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.
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The elder Palmer was born Dan Weissinger in Hungary in 1920, but gave himself a more WASPish-sounding name, apparently to avoid the stigma of being identified as Jewish.
Palmer, estimated to be worth $3bn, is not well known in donor circles and has not previously made donations of that size, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the donation.
From California Geoff Palmer had his Antelope shirts on his team with another winter California player, Caroline Anier(2), and Martin Garrahan(7) and Fati Reynot (6) rounding out his team. Both in the International Cup and the Open de Gassin, Geoff Palmer was the leading amateur scorer – one game making 7 goals. Fergus Gould, another Southern California import, is the head umpire for the season.