Citadel chief executive Ken Griffin owns a four-acre development in Miami’s financial district; on it are three parcels he reportedly spent $669.5 million to buy. On one parcel, he’s building a 54-story glass tower that’ll be headquarters for his investment firm. It’s supposed to combine offices, a hotel on the upper floors, restaurants, and maybe even a dock. When he first proposed the project two years ago, it was at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
But in the middle of the extraordinary site sits a 22-story condominium tower called the Solaris—and someone is secretly buying individual units in the building, in all-cash purchases, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citadel isn’t the only company to take the leap; it seems Wall Street South is catching on. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs recently doubled down on their office space in Miami, fueling its potential to become a storied financial hub. And it so happens that the center of American politics isn’t all that far away.
The mystery buyer, or buyers, per the Journal, can only be identified via limited-liability companies based in Delaware. So far the LLCs have purchased about half of the units in the Solaris over the last two years, the publication reported. Once that reaches 80%, the buyer takes control of the property, per the Journal, so anyone who still owns their place might be forced to sell and the landlord can knock it down.
So the question is, who is the mystery buyer? Is it Griffin, attempting to complete his waterfront development? Or is it someone looking for a payday, buying up the one property the billionaire doesn’t control in the vicinity, to sell to him? Bloomberg puts Griffin’s net worth at $42 billion; his hedge fund manages $64 billion in assets.
Some of the remaining unit owners in the Solaris seem to think it is Griffin, according to the Journal. But it isn’t clear why he’d be buying the units in secret since he owns the surrounding buildings, something everyone knows; although it is common practice for the wealthy to purchase real estate using an LLC.
The LLCs have paid around $750,000 for some of the two-bedroom units, per the Journal, which residents said wouldn’t get them anything comparable. The LLCs that purchased Griffin’s surrounding commercial properties list the same registered agent as the Delaware-based LLCs in question, they told the Journal. Apparently, one unit owner said they noticed Citadel’s global head of real estate had looked at their LinkedIn profile. Others think a $2 million repair assessment is an attempt to push them out. But some think if it is Griffin buying the units and they hold out, he’ll have to pay more—maybe even a lot more, if he really wants to tear the tower down.
It supposedly isn’t a first for Griffin, who, according to the Journal, often acquires the properties surrounding his purchase, having previously bought seven multimillion-dollar properties on Miami’s Star Island. Not to mention, he has a portfolio of properties across south Florida, New York, London, and St. Tropez.
Citadel declined to comment.