What will be inside billionaire Ken Griffin’s 54-story Miami tower? You may even benefit
When Daytona Beach-born billionaire Ken Griffin came home to Florida by moving his Chicago Citadel headquarters to Miami in 2022, he set the groundwork for reshaping a neighborhood.
This week, Griffin revealed his plans for his $650 million investment: a Brickell development that will change the city skyline.
“The development of this iconic, world-class tower at 1201 Brickell will redefine the Miami skyline and further solidify this dynamic and vibrant city as a global destination for talented professionals and their families, businesses and culture,” Griffin’s spokesman David Millar said.
To get here, the philanthropic financier signed the biggest lease to date at the 57-story 830 Brickell tower for 90,000 square feet of space to house his Citidel hedge fund and securities firm for five years. Citadel bought an office tower at 1221 Brickell for $286.5 million. Griffin also owns a plot of land at nearby 1250 Brickell that may grow to include a 100-unit residential tower.
Ken Griffin, the 55-year-old Harvard-educated businessman and GOP donor whose net worth of over $35 billion makes him one of the world’s Top 40 richest, eyed that surrounding area for a more expansive footprint. Griffin paid Miami developer Tibor Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty a record $363 million for a 2.5-acre parcel at 1201 Brickell Bay Dr. in April 2022, the Miami Herald reported.
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Earlier this week Griffin and his associates revealed details for that land and filed paperwork, including a site plan, with Miami-Dade County in mid-August for the signature tower at 1201 Brickell Bay Dr.
You may be able to dine, work out or even live in the community Griffin plans to build on all of his parcels, anchored by the 54-story office and hotel tower with 1.7 million square feet.
What’s in the proposed 1201 Brickell tower?
According to Foster + Partners’ and AAI Architects’ site plan for that 1201 Brickell location along Biscayne Bay, the tower would include 1.29 million square feet or more than 30 floors of column-free office space for Citadel’s Miami-based employees, with an eye to fostering in-person collaboration. There will be a room for conferences and events, and a ballroom. Citadel will have about 500 of its 4,700 employees in Miami by the end of 2024.
In addition, the public will find a 212 room hotel perched above the office floors, a 5,000-square-foot health spa and fitness club, and a pool at the tower’s top floor. Restaurants and stores also are planned.
Griffin’s company anticipates that the hotel will include several food and beverage outlets, conference spaces, a ballroom for large-scale events, as well as a pool, fitness facilities and a spa with panoramic views, according to Citadel plans.
“The tower’s tapered form ... creates an elegant marker on the Miami skyline,” said Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners, which is leading the design of the development.
Foster + Partners’ design takes advantage of the Miami waterfront location.
Citadel and Citadel Securities, which has been leasing space since the 2022 move, would be anchor tenants of the 1201 Brickell project once it’s complete around 2030.
Construction is not set to begin until the third quarter of 2025 and could take five years to complete.
Baywalk and waterfront views
The restaurants’ design allows for alfresco dining along the street, Citadel said. The retail, hotel and restaurant portions along the baywalk would be open to residents, visitors, tourists, hotel guests, along with Citadel’s employees and colleagues. Restaurants and stores have not been identified yet.
Field Operations, designers of Manhattan’s High Line, the Underline that runs under Metrorail’s elevated tracks, Miami’s Southside Park and the Knight Plaza that connects the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Frost Museum of Science along Biscayne Bay, is designing 1201’s baywalk, landscaping, and streetscape.
In 2022, Griffin, who lives on Miami Beach’s Star Island, donated $5 million to help support long term maintenance and operations of the Underline’s 10-mile linear park and urban trail.
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Citadel said the public realm on the baywalk along the development, which would open up a previously inaccessible section of the waterfront, will make the area walkable and give it a “pedestrian character.” Planners also promise connections to public transit including Metrorail and Metromover.
“We are excited by the opportunity to work with our partners, city and county officials, and neighboring stakeholders,” said Millar, Griffin’s spokesman, “as we revitalize the Brickell Baywalk for the benefit of Miamians and visitors alike.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 2:20 PM.
