Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin buys the USA's most expensive EVER home for £182million – days after snapping up £95million London pad

Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, now owns a stunning penthouse condominium which overlooks Manhattan's Central Park.


Just two days ago Griffin bought the priciest terrace home in Britain – just a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace.

The London mansion, worth £95million, boasts a gym, pool, and an underground extension.

But with his latest purchase in New York City, he will enjoy the top four floors of 220 Central park, which will become the tallest building in the city, standing at 950ft tall.

The breathtaking building will have 70 floors and 116 residential units when construction is completed.

'HAND-PICKED'

Award-winning architect Robert A.M Stern designed the property which boasts centralised air condition, an entire fitness centre, a spa and a huge outdoor pool lined with elegant lighting.

Residents will have access to their own balconies, valet services, event rooms, a full attended lobby and a concierge on top

And Griffin will have some rich and famous neighbours, including Brit singer Sting and his wife Trudie Styler who have also bought a unit there.

Tong Ton Zhao, who founded a large hotel management company in China,

Steven Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust that developed the building, said all buyers were personally hand-picked, before they were even able to make offers, the Real Deal reported.

But there are a number of units still up for grabs, Curbed New York has reported.

WHO IS KEN GRIFFIN?

Kenneth Cordele Griffin was born in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1968.

He was said to be an extremely nerdy teenager, leading the match club at his high school.

The tycoon first began trading from his Harvard University dorm room in 1987.

At his second year of the prestigious university studying economics, his fund was capitalised with $265,000 from friends and family including his grandmother, according to Chicago Magazine.

A year after he graduated in 1989, Griffin founded Citadel, the Chicago-based hedge fund that manages at least $30billion in assets, with a $4.6million investment.

He made his first entry on Forbes 400 at the young age of 34, before he married his second wife.

He met his first wife Katherine Weingartt in high school, but the couple divorced.

Griffin then married his second wife Anne Dias-Griffin in July 2003, and they had three kids together.

But in 2015, citing "irreconcilable differences" the couple divorced.

Griffin not only splashes on huge proprieties, he routinely donates to charities and political organisations.

His last gift in 2017, was a $125million grant for the University of Chicago to build a new economics department.

BIG SPENDER

Griffin is no stranger to extravagant property purchases.

In November, Griffin paid a record £45million ($58.75m) for the top four floors at 9 West Walton Street in Chicago.

Griffin, who settled a contentious divorce in 2015 with his second wife, Anne Dias Griffin, reportedly bought each floor individually, according to public records.

Griffin shelled out $21.7million for the 38th floor penthouse unit, by itself. He nabbed the 37th floor for $12.95 million, and the 36th floor for $12.13 million.

The 35th floor went for $12.5million, and included 7,100 feet of the total square footage.

The Harvard graduate founded Citadel in 1990, but began his trading career while he was still hitting the books in Massachusetts in 1987.

Today the fund handles more than $27billion in assets.

LIFE OF LUXURY

Residents will enjoy:

  • Therapy room
  • Fitness centre
  • A number of wine cellars
  • Swimming pool
  • Dining room
  • Wood and natural gas-burning fireplaces
  • An attended lobby
  • Lounge
  • Valet services
  • A fully serviced garage
  • An events room
  • Concierge
  • Golf simulator
  • Juice bar

And his New York condo purchase eclipses the prior record for a US home purchase, set by another hedge billionaire, Barry Rosenstein.

Rosenstein bought the East Hampton property, on New York's Long Island in 2014.

In 2015, Griffin put down $60million for a Miami Beach pent house.

He made the purchase shortly after he bought land in Palm Beach, Florida, as he was planning to build a mansion there.

Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, is building 220 Central Park South and expects it to generate $1 billion in after-tax cash flow and net income once all condo units are sold, a regulatory filing in October showed.













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