Citadel CEO Ken Griffin says Miami could eventually unseat New York as the financial capital of the world, Bloomberg reports.
The billionaire is building a $1 billion Miami waterfront complex that will become Citadel’s headquarters and is planning a mansion in Palm Beach for himself, also rumored to be in the ballpark of $1 billion. The colossal property will be just a quarter of a mile from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. On top of this, Griffin has been busy making generous political and philanthropic donations in Florida.
“We’ll see how big Wall Street South becomes,” Griffin said at the Citadel Securities Global Macro Conference in Miami Tuesday. “We’re on Brickell Bay, and maybe in 50 years, it will be ‘Brickell Bay North,’ how we refer to New York in finance.
“Miami, I think, represents the future of America,” he added.
While Griffin is digging in his heels in the sunshine state and has praised its business-friendly political environment and taxes, he is simultaneously investing heavily in New York, planning to complete a 51-story office tower at 350 Park Avenue in Manhattan by 2032.
Griffin, worth $35.4 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, also heaps high praise on New York and its “incredibly vibrant economy.”
“The density of talent both in financial services and writ-large in New York City is amongst the top of the world,” Griffin said. “It is really is the epicenter of thoughtful people passionately engaged in their careers.”
Griffin moved Citadel’s headquarters from crime-ridden Chicago last June.
Like Citadel, 160 Wall Street firms have moved out of New York in recent years, with 56 of them settling in Florida. It is estimated these firms took with them $1 trillion in assets under management from The Big Apple.