Ken Griffin sells remaining Faena House condo for $11.2M

Hedge funder’s two units sold for a combined $46M, 23% less than he paid in 2015

Faena House and a photo illustration of Ken Griffin (Foster + Partners, Getty, iStock)
Faena House and a photo illustration of Ken Griffin (Foster + Partners, Getty, iStock)

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has left Faena House.

The founder and longtime CEO of Chicago-based Citadel sold his remaining penthouse at the ultra-luxury Miami Beach condo building, a three-bedroom, 4,243-square-foot unit, for $11.2 million. It was on the market for $12.5 million.

Griffin, a Daytona Beach native who has amassed a huge residential land portfolio in Palm Beach, paid $60 million for two penthouses in the building in 2015. The purchase was considered a record for residential real estate in South Florida at the time, but the units were never combined.

He sold the larger unit, a four-bedroom, 7,433-square-foot condo, in December for $35 million. That means he sold the two for about 23 percent less than their combined purchase price, incurring a loss of about $13.8 million on the properties.

In the latest deal, Ryan Mendell of Maxwell E. Realty represented Griffin and Cyril Matz of Douglas Elliman represented the undisclosed buyer, according to Realtor.com. Both agents declined to comment.

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The 44-unit, 17-story Faena House at 3315 Collins Avenue, was developed by Alan Faena and investor Len Blavatnik and opened in 2015.

Last year, the condo association sued the building’s developer, general contractor and subcontractors over a litany of alleged construction defects, including cracks in the concrete and stucco and plumbing, electrical and HVAC issues, according to the lawsuit.

Some owners at Faena House, including Griffin, had also opposed the planned development of a hotel and condo project next door, which Blavatnik and developer Vlad Doronin are partnering on.

Citadel Securities, a separate company from Griffin’s Chicago-based hedge fund, began operating a temporary trading room in Palm Beach at the start of the pandemic.

On Miami Beach’s Star Island, Griffin has spent about $95 million acquiring land, and in Palm Beach, he’s paid more than $350 million to assemble properties for a planned estate.

He owns pricey real estate around the world, including in Manhattan, Chicago and London.