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One Hedge Fund Billionaire’s Home-Price Record Shatters Another’s

National  + Weekender  | 

A $100-million home? That’s pretty quaint, if you’re Citadel’s Ken Griffin. The hedge fund billionaire has reportedly broken the U.S. record for home pricing, closing on a $238-million penthouse at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South residential condominium project in Manhattan.

Citadel’s founder went into contract on the 24,000-square-foot penthouse in 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fact that he’s closing on it only now indicates that the 69-story condo tower is nearing completion, according to the WSJ. Closings at the tower will be occurring through 2020.

Griffin’s new acquisition will give him a place to crash for the night when he’s in town, an occasion that may arise more frequently now that Citadel is expanding its New York City office presence, a spokeswoman for Griffin told the WSJ.

Already set to anchor another new development, L&L Holding Company’s 425 Park Ave., Citadel recently grew its footprint at the project by 120,400 square feet, for a total of 331,800 square feet at 425 Park.

Griffin’s purchase shatters the previous U.S. record, also set by a hedge-fund billionaire. Jana Partners founder Barry Rosenstein paid $137 million in 2014 for a home in the Hamptons.

Although Griffin’s 220 CPS purchase doesn’t match the $361 million reportedly paid for a home at the Peak in one of Hong Kong’s priciest neighborhoods two years ago, in the aggregate he’s blown past that figure. Griffin has set residential pricing records in Chicago and Miami with condo deals of $58.75 million and $60 million, respectively, and since 2012 has spent close to $250 million assembling land for a mansion in West Palm Beach, FL.

Earlier this month, the WSJ reported, he paid $122 million for a home in London, one of the biggest-ticket sales on record for that city. Add these acquisitions up, and the total approaches $750 million.

As for Vornado, Griffin’s 220 CPS buy and the somewhat more down-to-earth acquisitions other future tenants have made there, will represent a gold mine. The REIT recently disclosed in an SEC filing that it expects to clear about $1 billion from condo sales at the tower, where 98 of 118 units were under contract as of last October.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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