Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin has made plenty of newsin Palm Beach, where he plans to open an office of his Citadel financial empire in the old Nieman Marcus building on Worth Avenue, the town’s famous shopping thoroughfare.
Griffin knows the wealthy Florida townwell, for he owns the largest estate on the island after spending at least $450 million over nearly seven years to assemble about 25 acres. The beachfront estate — with a couple of parcels on the Intracoastal Waterway— liesa quarter-mile south of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on the stretch of South Ocean Boulevard known to locals as Billionaires Row.
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Even with all that land, Griffin hasconfirmed he has moved his family to Miami, where he also is relocating his company from Chicago.
Here'sa quick look at how Griffinassembled the Palm Beach estate, most of it bought with the assistance of his longtime real estate broker, Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates. (For a more complete look at his purchases in town, click on the Palm Beach Daily News' coverage here.)
Let’s start at the very beginning: In 2012, Ken Griffin purchases four Palm Beach properties for $129.6 million
In December 2012, Griffin used two different shell companiesto buy four adjacent properties totaling 8acres for a recorded $129.6 million on Blossom Wayin the Blossom Estate subdivision. In all, the properties gave him about 560 feet of oceanfront.
In 2015, Ken Griffin buys a house nearby ...
In the summer of 2015, a Griffin-controlled companypaid a recorded $15.25 million for a non-waterfront house and guesthouse at 70 Blossom Way. The property added 1.44acres to his holdings and he remodeled the house for his own use on his visits to Palm Beach.
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Why not buy the Palm Beach mansion next door— and tear it down?
In January 2017, a Griffin-controlled company paid a recorded $85 million for an oceanfront mansion — that he later razed — at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd. just south of his estate. The purchase expanded his holdings to 12 contiguous acres — not including 70 Blossom Way — with about 871 feet of oceanfront.
And what did Ken Griffin originally want to build on his Palm Beach estate?
The addition of the property at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd. accommodated Griffin’s plans for aone-story beachfront mansion that would have stretched longer than a football field. Although he began construction on that project, he changed his mind and pulled the plug in October 2017.
And then Ken Griffinbought that house on the Intracoastal Waterway ...
Bythe spring of2018, a heavily cloaked transaction added the first lakefront property — with 2 acres and 193 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway — to the Griffin estate. The exact price Griffin paid for the house at 1285 S. Ocean Blvd. was never disclosed in public records, but real estate observers estimated that as much as $20 million changed hands. The Griffinestate now measured15.5 ocean-to-lake acres.
Another house is purchased— and then remodeled for Ken Griffin’s mom ...
In May 2018, an off-market deal recorded at $20.25 millionadded a house at 10 Blossom Way to Griffin’sholdings. On 1.6 acres, it stands directly across from Griffin's houseat 70 Blossom Way and has served as a vacation home for his mother, Catherine Gratz Griffin.
And thenthisocean-to-lake mansion next door became available...
In late June 2019, a Griffin-linked companypaid a recorded$104.99 million— briefly setting a Palm Beach sales-price record — for a prominent ocean-to-lake estateat 1295 S. Ocean Blvd. on the south side of Griffin's estate. Thecompany bought it fromestate of the late investment-bank heiress and Broadway producerTerryAllenKramer, who diedthe previous month. The estate added about 4.5 acresacres to Griffin’s holdings.
And the final piece? Yet anotherbeachfront mansion ...
In September 2019, Griffin squared off the oceanfront part of his estate with a $99.13 million purchase— using another shell company— of a beachfront house at 60BlossomWay.The house was later razed.
And what is Ken Griffin now planning tobuild?
In the summer of 2022, the town gave Griffin permission to build an oceanfront mansion that his architectural team designed for his mother, family members and guests onabout 8 acres on the northern part of his property. The rest of his estate has not been redeveloped.
Stay tuned.
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Darrell Hofheinz is aUSA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tipsabout real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call (561) 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
