Ken Griffin Sells Another Gold Coast Chicago Condo at a Loss

Billionaire Ken Griffin is set to take yet another multimillion-dollar loss from the selloff of his Chicago condos.

The Citadel CEO, who has relocated to South Florida, found a buyer for the 36th floor at No. 9 Walton, an unfinished condo he purchased in 2017 for about $12 million but is now selling for significantly less, Crain’s reported.

Griffin re-listed the unit in November for $8.5 million, positioning it for a 30 percent loss. A month later, agents Nancy Tassone of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty and Emily Sachs Wong of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate updated the listing as contingent.

The buyer hasn’t been identified, but Sachs Wong confirmed it was not Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who purchased the 37th and 38th floors for a combined $19 million in November.

That transaction was Chicago’s most-expensive residential sale of last year, but it also came at a loss of $15 million for Griffin. He purchased the 36th-floor unit as part of a package deal that included four consecutive floors — 35 through 38 — for a combined total exceeding $58 million.

If the deal for the 36th floor closes at or near the asking price, Griffin’s total losses from selling his Chicago properties will climb to nearly $25 million. The 35th floor is the last unsold unit.

The condo selling spree comes as part of Griffin’s broader Chicago real estate divestment after relocating his family and Citadel financial empire to Florida in 2022.

Griffin’s property losses in Chicago extend beyond No. 9 Walton. He sold the 37th floor of the Waldorf Astoria for $10.22 million in October 2022, reflecting a $3 million loss. In January 2023, Griffin sold the 66th floor of Park Tower for $11.2 million, losing $3.8 million.

The Park Tower buyers were later revealed to be Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and her husband, George Lucas. Despite the staggering losses, Griffin’s net worth, estimated at $46.5 billion by Forbes, renders these figures a minor setback.

— Andrew Terrell