Ken Griffin’s Brickell takeover: Citadel adds to its properties with $20M purchase

Hedge fund bought small apartment building near its dev site

Ken Griffin and 1250 Brickell Bay Drive in Miami (Getty Images, Google Maps)
Ken Griffin and 1250 Brickell Bay Drive in Miami (Getty Images, Google Maps)

Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin is continuing his Brickell shopping binge, scooping up properties across the street from the development site his Citadel bought this spring.

In the latest deal, an entity led by Citadel COO Gerald Beeson bought the three-story, 12-unit apartment building at 1250 Brickell Bay Drive in Miami and the adjacent vacant lot at 1260 Brickell Bay Drive for $20 million, a deed shows.

The seller, Yamal Yidios’ real estate development and investment firm Ytech, flipped it for a major profit. It bought the property for $11 million in July and sold it to Citadel’s affiliate for a $9 million gain, records show.

The apartment building was constructed in 1958 on 0.1 acres, and the next-door lot is 1,300 square feet, according to property records.

The site is across the street from the 2.5 acres of land Citadel purchased for a record $363 million in April, shortly after Griffin announced Citadel and financial services firm Citadel Securities will move their headquarters to Miami’s Brickell Bay from Chicago.

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The latest deal marks Griffin’s takeover of Brickell, as Citadel also leased roughly 95,000 square feet under a long-term deal at the 830 Brickell tower under construction. The space, as well as Citadel’s expansion of its offices at the Southeast Financial Center at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, will be an interim location for the company, sources told The Real Deal.

Citadel has retained Chicago-based Sterling Bay to build the company’s new headquarters.

The hedge fund’s play on Brickell has further kicked into high-gear the neighborhood’s office market.

Asking rents at 830 Brickell have hit $125 to $150 a square foot, a new high for Miami, brokers said.

Some recent leases at the building, at 830 Brickell Plaza, have closed at $110 to $120 a square foot, with deals under negotiation for $130 a foot, sources told TRD.

Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group and Jonathan Goldstein’s Cain International are developing the 55-story tower, slated for completion in six months.