Billionaire Ken Griffin has been on a decade-long, ultra-luxury real estate buying spree, one that not even a tumultuous economy amid a worldwide pandemic can slow. The hedge funder’s latest purchase in Miami Beach’s exclusive Star Island has boosted his global residential real estate investment portfolio to nearly $1 billion.
It’s a total that places him in the upper echelon of property moguls worldwide and makes fellow billionaire and luxury real estate buyer, Michael Bloomberg, look like a bargain hunter.
60 Blossom Way in Palm Beach (Google Maps)
This month, Griffin paid $37 million for a double-lot on mansion-filled Star Island, adding to his appetite for real estate in the glitziest locales around the globe.
The founder and CEO of Chicago-based Citadel has spent about $950 million on mansions, condos and land parcels in New York, Chicago, Florida’s Miami Beach and Palm Beach, and in London. In recent years, he spent a total of $350 million on multiple purchases in Palm Beach and $97 million in Miami Beach. He broke a U.S. record when he paid $238 million for a massive Manhattan penthouse at 220 Central Park South and shattered a Chicago mark with a $58 million condo splurge. In Central London, he also dropped $122 million on a mansion.
Nelson Gonzalez, a residential agent who specializes in Miami Beach, said Griffin’s investments have been strategic and have paid off.
9 West Walton Street in Chicago (Google Maps)
“Before, when he was buying everything in Palm Beach, everyone thought he was overpaying for everything, but he was actually getting very good deals,” said Gonzalez, who is with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty and hasn’t represented Griffin. “And Miami Beach is still extremely undervalued.”
Griffin was also reportedly buying in a place where many wealthy New Yorkers have escaped to during the pandemic. According to the Wall Street Journal, he was under contract in February to purchase a 7-acre compound in Southampton from Calvin Klein. The estate at 650 Meadow Lane closed for $84 million in March, according to the Real Estate Report Inc., but a buyer was not listed.
Here’s a look at what we know about Griffin’s worldwide real estate buys:
August 2020: Griffin paid $37 million for a vacant double-lot at 11 and 12 Star Island Drive on Miami Beach’s Star Island.
March 2020: The CEO is said to be the buyer of 650 Meadow Lane in Southampton, which sold for $84 million.
August 2019: This $99.1 million purchase was for an 18,452-square-foot oceanfront estate at 60 Blossom Way in Palm Beach. It’s on 3.6 acres of land.
220 Central Park South
January 2019: Griffin paid a record $238 million for an enormous penthouse at 220 Central Park South in Manhattan. The condo is a 23,000-square-foot quadplex encompassing the 50th through 53rd floors of the tower developed by Vornado Realty Trust, and designed by Robert A.M. Stern.
May 2018: This $20.3 million buy was for an estate at 10 Blossom Way in Palm Beach, and is on 2 acres.
November 2017: His $58.5 million purchase for the top four floors at 9 West Walton Street in Chicago made it the highest-priced home sale in the Chicago area.
January 2017: Griffin bought this Central London mansion for $122 million. The historic home at 3 Carlton Gardens was once a wartime residence of Charles de Gaulle and has been the home of three British prime ministers.
3315 Collins Avenue (Google Maps)
January 2017: In Palm Beach, he dropped $85 million for the oceanfront 4.18-acre estate at 1290 South Ocean Boulevard.
September 2015: Griffin spent $60 million for two condos at Faena House at 3315 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. The units, one above the other, total 12,500 square feet.
July 2015: Another Palm Beach buy, he paid $15.2 million for the property at 70 Blossom Way, which is on 1.45 acres.
Late 2012: Griffin spent $130 million on his first Blossom Way assemblage in Palm Beach, acquiring four properties on 6.5 acres of land.