Ken Griffin’s South Florida state of mind: Citadel to open Palm Beach office

Ken Griffin continues storming into South Florida, with Citadel poised to take over the former Neiman Marcus building in Palm Beach.

The Chicago-based hedge fund is setting up an office in the former 48,578-square-foot department store at 151 Worth Avenue, according to Bloomberg.

In May, an affiliate of Jeffrey Camp paid $78 million for the three-story building completed in 2000, records show. Neiman Marcus vacated the property in late 2020, after the department store chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As part of the reorganization, Neiman Marcus closed stores and shed $4 billion in debt.

In June, Griffin announced Citadel is relocating its global headquarters from Chicago to Miami, where the hedge fund is partnering with commercial real estate developer Sterling Bay to build a new office tower in the city’s Brickell area. Citadel is reportedly the buyer of a commercial site at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive that sold for a record $363 million.

Palm Beach has experienced an influx of hedge fund firms and managers in the past year, lured to the Sunshine State by Florida’s lax Covid restrictions and friendly tax environment. During the pandemic, Citadel traders stationed in Chicago and New York moved down and worked from the Four Seasons Palm Beach.

Citadel employees residing in Palm Beach will work in the new office on Worth Avenue.

Griffin, who is also moving to Miami with his family, has been a big-time real estate spender in Palm Beach, dropping $350 million assembling land in the city over the last decade. In late June, the Palm Beach Architectural Commission approved plans for a one-story estate at 60 Blossom Way that include a main house, guest home, pools, gardens and other landscaping. The compound is for Griffin’s mother, Catherine Gratz Griffin.

A Daytona Beach native, Griffin has amassed a personal net worth of more than $25 billion, according to Forbes.

— Francisco Alvarado