Billionaire Ken Griffin submits site plan for mixed-use Miami supertall

Billionaire Ken Griffin is moving forward with plans to develop a $1 billion-plus mixed-use tower in Miami’s Brickell Financial District.

Griffin’s attorney, Neisen Kasdin, this week submitted a pre-application for the sites at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, 1221 Brickell Avenue and 1250-1260 Brickell Bay Drive. Griffin, founder and CEO of his hedge fund Citadel and owner of Citadel Securities, will move both companies’ headquarters to the new project. 

Griffin plans a new tower at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive with office space, a luxury hotel, retail, food and beverage and parking. The development would be built under Miami-Dade County’s rapid transit zoning regulations, according to the application. The sites are part of a Metromover subzone added in 2022 and 2023. 

According to a preliminary site plan, residential units could be added to the existing office building at 1221 Brickell Bay Drive. 

Norman Foster’s London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners is the architect. Philadelphia-based Gattuso Development Partners, an office developer led by John Gattuso, is also working on the project. Griffin parted ways with Chicago-based Sterling Bay as the co-developer last year. 

In 2022, companies tied to Griffin and Citadel paid nearly $670 million for the Brickell assemblage, which totals about 4.2 acres. The largest of those deals was the $363 million purchase of the 2.5-acre bayfront lot at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive. The Hollo family’s Florida East Coast Realty sold the development site for a record price.

That same year, Griffin also bought the 28-story 1221 Brickell Avenue office building for $286.5 million; and the now-demolished apartment building at 1250 Brickell Bay Drive and adjacent vacant lot at 1260 Brickell Bay Drive for $20 million, combined. 

The height of the future project would be limited by Federal Aviation Administration restrictions, which cap Miami buildings at 1,049 feet. 

Citadel recently expanded its space at 830 Brickell, giving Citadel a total of roughly 130,000 square feet at Vlad Doronin and Cain International’s office tower, which is expected to be completed soon. Citadel and Citadel Securities also have space at the Southeast Financial Center in downtown Miami. 

Griffin has also collected some of South Florida’s priciest residential real estate, with waterfront properties in Miami, Miami Beach and Palm Beach. The Daytona Beach native left Chicago and relocated his family and his companies to South Florida. He is selling some of his residential properties in Chicago, where he built his business. 

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