Ken Griffin finds buyer for Waldorf Astoria condo

Ken Griffin has taken another step to leave Chicago assets behind. The billionaire and prolific residential real estate investor found a buyer for one of his Gold Coast condos.
One of the four high-priced condos the hedge fund manager listed earlier this year is now marked as “contingent,” the Chicago Tribune reported. The move toward the property’s toward a sale comes after Griffin’s June announcement that he, his family and company would leave Chicago for Miami.

The five-bedroom 7,400-square-foot condo unit on the 37th floor of the Waldorf Astoria was listed for $11.5 million. It’s unknown whether the deal will close at that price, which would mark a loss from the $13.3 million Griffin bought it for in 2014.

Days after announcing that Citadel would move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, Griffin listed three condo units for sale. The listings included an 8,000-square-foot full-floor condominium on the 66th floor of Park Tower asking $13.25 million, a 9,250-square-foot full-floor unit on Park Tower’s top floor asking $$15.75 million and the Waldorf Astoria unit. A few weeks later he listed his fourth condo, a 7,085-square-foot unfinished unit on the 35th floor of the building at 9 West Walton Street.

The combined $54.5 million in listings don’t include all of Griffin’s high-priced residential real estate in Chicago. Griffin, the soon-to-be-former wealthiest resident of Illinois, still hasn’t listed his unfinished space on the top three floors in the building at 9 West Walton. He paid $58.75 million in four separate transactions for the 35th through 38th floors of the building in 2017. It’s unclear what his plans are for the space, but he never moved in or completed the units.

The Waldorf Astoria unit, which public records show served as Griffin’s actual residence for many years, went into contract to sell Sept. 26 — exactly two months after being listed.

The condo has six bathrooms, two fireplaces, two home offices, a bonus room and a private gallery entryway. When the sale will close and the identity of the buyer is not yet known.

Griffin previously owned another unit in the Waldorf Astoria. In 2015, he sold the 46th-floor unit he bought for $16 million a year before to billionaire Jude Reyes for the same amount.

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— Victoria Pruitt