A mystery buyer has been amassing units in a condominium building in the middle of Ken Griffin’s newest real estate project in Miami, according to a report.
The hedge fund boss, who has a net worth of $46.5 billion according to Forbes, acquired the 4.2 acres of land in 2022 with plans to build a luxurious new 54-story headquarters for his firm, Citadel. The 1.7 million-square-foot building will include restaurants, a rooftop hotel, a waterfront terrace and potentially a dock along the bay.
But an unknown buyer, or buyers, has been acquiring units in the Solaris, a 22-story condo tower in the middle of Griffin’s land, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A series of limited liability companies based in Delaware have bought up at least 67 of the building’s units over the past two years – nearly half of the tower’s total condos, according to public records obtained by the Journal.
Once a buyer owns 80%, or about 110 units, it will take control of the property and can force the remaining condo owners to sell their units before demolishing the building, the report said.
It is unclear whether Griffin is the buyer in question, or whether another person has bought up units in the tower with plans to hike the listing prices and sell them to the Citadel boss for a pretty penny.
Many building residents said they think the mystery buyer is Griffin because the LLCs list the same agent that Griffin used for surrounding properties, the report said.
Citadel declined to comment.
The Solaris opened in 2006 as a luxe condo tower; residents could enjoy the building’s gym, spa, clubhouse and pool deck.
But now, the 18-year-old building is starting to show signs of wear-and-tear. Its residents were recently hit with a $2 million assessment for pool and garage repairs.
Some unit owners said larger assessments usually plague buildings much older than the Solaris – the backbone of a conspiracy theory among residents that the hefty assessment is an attempt to push them out, the Journal said.
One resident told the Journal they began growing suspicious after they noticed Citadel’s head of real estate viewing their LinkedIn profile.
The mystery buyer has paid around $750,000 for some two-bedroom units in the tower, an amount residents said is much too small to get them anything close to what they currently have.
But some of the residents are hoping they will be able to squeeze more out of Griffin, who needs to knock the condo down to build his expansive new headquarters, according to the Journal.
Condo terminations, or when developers buy out units in buildings to tear them down and build something new, have become more common in South Florida amid a lack of developable land.
Condo owners have complained about being pushed out into an unwelcoming housing market, with prices much higher than what they paid for their units.
Griffin – who moved his firm from Chicago to Miami in 2022 – has said he believes Miami could one day overtake New York’s Wall Street as more companies flee the city’s hefty taxes and high crime rates.
