Billionaire Reveals New Details Of Brickell Supertall: ‘Nothing Will Compare’

Billionaire Ken Griffin, who is the the richest man in Florida, has revealed new details of his plans to remake Miami in an interview with Bloomberg.

In addition to building a headquarters complex in Brickell, Griffin said he plans to lure major US businesses to Miami, boost education in the city, and become a huge player in philanthropy and politics here.

Here’s what Griffin said about the new Brickell headquarters complex:

  • It is estimated to cost $1 billion
  • The tower height could exceed 1,000 feet
  • He wants to build retail and restaurants on the ground floor to bring foot traffic, similar to Brickell City Centre
  • A helipad, marina, and windows that open to Biscayne Bay are planned
  • It will be “iconic,” he said: “If it takes longer to fill the building, so be it. It’s more important to me to create the right environment to draw human capital that drives Citadel”
  • Griffin plans to personally pitch some of the most valuable US companies, including Apple, to fill the new tower
  • A computer science program could also be in the new complex, in partnership with a local university
  • Completion is expected in 5 or 6 years
  • Citadel’s Miami headcount is expected to reach 1,500 in 10 years

Griffin said he has spent a lot of time walking around Brickell, which he said contrasts favorably with Chicago when it comes to safety.

He said is making education in Miami a top philanthropic priority, and is already talking to private schools and public institutions about opportunities.

Griffin has already donated $25 million to Miami philanthropic causes, and is ready to give more, as he did in Chicago. If Mayor Francis Suarez contacted him with a good idea, he “would certainly consider backing it.”

 

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anonymous
8 months ago

When it comes to Kenny G’s pockets and motivation I actually believe this will be iconic.

Visionaries at work
8 months ago

Let the man do his thing. He is investing his money and trying to make Miami better. We should welcome him and allow him to change the city for the better.

Lord Humongous
8 months ago

Best part is, he isnt trying to change the city. He wants to lean into what’s already happening naturally here

Anonymous
8 months ago

would be so great to see him acquire Genting property and build Hudson Yards south….but even better than New Yorks ……. thats such a shame the way that property just sits there for last 11 years

Market Intel Mike
8 months ago

Related already offered $1B to acquire Genting

Anonymous
8 months ago

Mr. G and Mr. Ross in Miami is what this city needs.

Rocky.
8 months ago

“The tower height could exceed 1000 feet.” Let’s rephrase that: “The tower height WILL exceed 1000 feet!”

Anonymous
8 months ago

Yea will exceed by only 49 feet lol

Anonymous
8 months ago

And I can’t see the problem with adding just 51 more feet.

Yet Another Anonymous
8 months ago

Crane’s temporarily go as high as near 1,200 ft.

Anonymous
8 months ago

^
They may go “as high as near 1,200 ft” but some buildings around the world are built taller than that, with the Burg Khalifa being an extreme example.

Anonymous
8 months ago

unfortunately we have an airport facing downtown. only hope in approving higher structures is altering flight paths

Antennae
8 months ago

FAA won’t allow it

Anonymous
8 months ago

So excited to see a rendering!

Anonymous
8 months ago

I say WOW to Ken Griffin!!! Amazing future for Brickell/Miami!!! We love his vision!!!

anonymous
8 months ago

>>Griffin said he has spent a lot of time walking around Brickell,

Hopefully he also understands how inhospitable our public streets are to those that bike and walk.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Well, he seems to be doing fine after doing it.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Let him see so he can look for ways to improve things

Slim Shady
8 months ago

Right.
Somehow Ken Griffin and I have no problem walking in Brickell.
There are a handful of people who find it “Impossible”….but for 10’s of thousands of people it is pleasant and effortless.

Anonymous
8 months ago

I mean I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to walk in Brickell but I wouldn’t say it’s effortless either. The number of distracted drivers who don’t yield to pedestrians is unlike most other cities of this size. Nothing that more police enforcement couldn’t solve though.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Driver education campaigns against aggressive and distracted driving would help change at least some drivers behaviors…

Anonymous
8 months ago

…as he cruises past spandexed bikers and trotting hipsters in his Maybach.

1049’ plus!
8 months ago

Iconic would be to get the FAA to approve at above 1049’. That would be ICONIC!

Anonymous
8 months ago

Please stop it. The FAA will never approve anything greater than 1,049′ unless the airport is moved to the middle of the Everglades.

Anonymous
8 months ago

And that’s why city officials need to approve the height limit to 1100 feet for just a few buildings. Regardless of what you may think, MIA is owned by MiamiDade county.

Vincent
8 months ago

Yes, but the skies are owned by the FAA.

Anonymous
8 months ago

^regardless of what you think, FAA sets the rules for MIA and for height restrictions in its flight path. And MDC doesn’t want its cash cow MIA to be disrupted just to have some building downtown be 51 feet taller.

Anonymous
8 months ago

^
The cash cow is MiamiDade, not the FAA. The city can approve the height of 1100 ft for a few new skyscrapers in an area that’s already approved at 1049 feet for some building heights. 1100 ft is not that much hazardous than 1049 ft (just a 51ft difference).

anon
8 months ago

It doesnt matter if its one foot – its not going to happen.

Anonymous
8 months ago

It won’t happen because we first need to see a 1000 foot tall structure first.

Anonymous
8 months ago

City can approve whatever height they want, but the FAA won’t allow it and what the FAA says goes. This isn’t debatable opinion, it’s just fact. Do some research.

Divert Just a Bit
8 months ago

How about changing the flight path just a few degrees south. Let the planes go over Coconut Grove and allow the Miami skyline to reach its full potential.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Agreed. Wish people would have paid attention in math class. Practical use: A fully burdened jumbo jet with an engine failure on take off should maintain a 3 degree rate of climb. At 5.5 miles from the end of Runway 9, with 29,000 feet distance, the aircraft should have 1521 feet of altitude. Tangent 3 degrees X 29,000 –> 1521 feet. The 1049 feet max building height provides a small factor of safety to allow aircraft to clear the city skyline. It’s not really up for debate.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Gee, you should tell that to people who had planes fall out the sky and onto their houses.

BDub
8 months ago

Sadly, it takes the FAA 6 months per building to do that calculation.

Anonymous
8 months ago

^
lol…

Anonymous
8 months ago

there actually plans to move the airport out there. you can still see the one completed runway on google maps

Anonymous
8 months ago

this was back in the 60s to plan for supersonic jets

Anonymous
8 months ago

^^are you stuck in a time warp lol

delicious
8 months ago

big buildings….big boobs….big buildings….big boobs…..

anonymous
8 months ago

KENNY G has become the god of miami. he moved up the ranks to the top in a few months here

Anonymous
8 months ago

Plays one hell of a sax too

Alpina
8 months ago

Completion in 6 years…say what??

Citadel Drone
8 months ago

You will love what my boss does once we start building!! The designs are coming in, and will look nothing like these old renderings. I can assure you, Miami has NEVER seen anything like what we will build!! Forget the term iconic….

Anonymous
8 months ago

Would love to see this Calatrava which was supposed to go up in Chicago: https://calatrava.com/projects/chicago-spire-tower-chicago.html?view_mode=gallery Now, that’s ICONIC.

Cheetah
8 months ago

Pls don’t be a fake

Unknown
8 months ago

Gat dammit! I was all in until he used the word “Iconic” We all know what the word Iconic means in Miami!

No_rail_no_roads_no_Future
8 months ago

Hopefully with an Iconic fake trolley station and an iconic Miami-Dade county study to study the use of the word “iconic”.

No_rail_no_roads_no_Future
8 months ago

And an Iconic Pedestal.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Man, you got that right. That has become synonymous with the “Miami Style.”

Eugenio Echevarria
8 months ago

This is the type of people the world need willing to work with the people around him to make it a better place.

Zouheir
8 months ago

The next big creative project someone need to connect far west miami and Brikell
Via cool transportation 8 street and Flagler
Some kind of tram or above ground train
That what creat the melting pot and connect people most of them don’t want to drive !!!!!

Slim Shady
8 months ago

John Galt has left Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago in the dust.
Welcome to the Gulch Citadel, let’s make amazing things in Miami.

Miami guru
8 months ago

No one seems to notice one major problem. The city is still in mayor financial hardship albeit broke Impact fees is what’s sustaining new revenue. I applaud bringing in new companies, residents, etc. But no one is considering infrastructure. You can’t drive anywhere in the city. 10 miles away still takes you an hour plus. Forget the skyline. Look at other places to grow vertical around the metro area. Miami wants to be a mayor city. It is FAR from it. But working on it.
It must be functional first. Downtown is not the solution…it’s the problem. Forget about how it looks, make it accessible and functional for all. Many residents have left the metro area because of it. Transient money goes away fast. Keep the business for a lifetime not just for a day.

The World Is Yours
8 months ago

Make a hostile takeover for that little building on the way already, so the plan can be even more grandiose. Everybody has a price. Offer them some generous offer they can’t refuse, then demolish it. Develop the entire block with skywalk across to bay.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Make a hostile takeover offer to Solaris on Brickell Bay…then you will own the entire block and can really do something iconic.

Anonymous
8 months ago

They purchased that little building a month or 2 ago for around $20 million.

Zouheir
8 months ago

What a mazing projects coming up.
But we need more creative foot traffic for locals and tourists sort of time square and soho!

Southwest Til' I die!
8 months ago

I hope it incorporates natural materials, too much glass. Like the Al Hamra Tower in Kuwait City.

MiamiArchi
8 months ago

Love the Al Hamra Tower!
Might be my favorite skyscraper design

Alpina
8 months ago

Does he have enough site space to replicate Brickell City Centre? Does own direct adjacent sites?

anonymous
8 months ago

at 1,000 feet hight he should have a good bit of square footage to make it close

Anonymous
8 months ago

They’re talking about the retail aspect

Positive American
8 months ago

Coming from Chicago this guy has seen many incredible skyscrapers just in that city. He will deliver “Iconic” NO DOUBT.
And I hope he offers to build an ENTERTAINMENT SKYSCRAPER like the SkyRise but better at the Bayside Marketplace location that the city can be proud of

Anonymous
8 months ago

No city should be proud of a giant toenail clipper by Arquitectonica.

Not Anonymous
8 months ago

he said but better

Melo, a true Giga Chad
8 months ago

Ken Griffin is Miami’s Elon Musk

calivalle
8 months ago

This awesome FIU is building a new engineering building on calle 8.It would be an interesting partnership…

Eugenio Echevarria
8 months ago

My friend Griffin and all Politicians Miami cannot exceed or over exceed if we don’t work on public transportation including trains foot traffic bike all types of rail and many other futuristic types of People movers this will also include improving street traffic

Jose Jimenez
8 months ago

Another “iconic” building. Join the other hundred. Give us a break already

Anonymous
8 months ago

Maybe expand the mover to Brickell Bay Drive?

Anonymous
8 months ago

That was the initial plan when they built Metrorail. It stops at Brickell but is set for bridging. Would like to see Griffin make a DisneyWorld style station IN his building.

Anonymous
8 months ago

For a Disney World-style station, you need a Disney World-style upgrade to Metromover, which means making all the stations bigger for longer with more cars, and faster trains. Otherwise, extending a moving homeless shelter a couple blocks a billionaire can walk without issue while simultaneously ruining potential for streets with more giant flyovers, frankly is unfeasible.

Anonymous
8 months ago

^
Haha.. the “flyover” man.

Anonymous
8 months ago

BTW, this is Citadel’s Miami-forward opening page on the net: https://www.citadel.com/?page_id=35

Anonymous
8 months ago

there needs to be a land holding tax/vancant building tax structure. A time limit with allowable extensions for plans submitted/approved. that way companies can still flip but discourages long term land banking that put holes in the city fabric.

Anonymous
8 months ago

Code enforcement is supposed to help with that, but it’s already toothless.

Slim Shady
8 months ago

Needs??
Really?
After your “thoughtful” plan is implemented, THEN will Citadel relocate HQ to Miami?

Oh….wait…Citadel has relocated WITHOUT your plan. Property taxes are the lowest level on record, and things are great.

An additional tax is not NEEDED, not wanted (except for by you), and adding more taxes would NOT encourage development at all.

Anonymous
8 months ago

lol yes this guy wants the higher taxes that The Citadel is moving away from by coming to Miami.

Anonymous
8 months ago

The hell with property rights and freedom from oppressive taxation, we got the CITY FABRIC to deal with!!!