Ken Griffin sees Miami possibly replacing New York as finance capital

Citadel founder Ken Griffin says his new home of Miami could eventually unseat New York as the world’s financial center.

“We’ll see how big Wall Street South becomes,” Griffin said in an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg News at the Citadel Securities Global Macro Conference in Miami. “We’re on Brickell Bay, and maybe in 50 years it will be 'Brickell Bay North' how we refer to New York in finance.”

Titans of Wall Street have flocked to South Florida in recent years, attracted by warm weather and the lack of a state income tax. But Griffin, who moved to Miami last year, plans to outdo them all by changing the face of the city with a more than $1 billion waterfront tower that will serve as Citadel’s headquarters, as well as political and philanthropic donations ranging from a children’s hospital to soccer.

Griffin — who is worth $35.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — still has high praise for New York, where Citadel maintains a considerable presence and intends to build an office tower. Citadel is planning a massive new Manhattan skyscraper that could rise to roughly 1,350 feet (411 meters) with 51 office floors and seven terraces.

“The density of talent both in financial services and writ-large in New York City is amongst the top of the world,” he said. “It is really the epicenter of thoughtful people passionately engaged in their careers.”

But he also said Florida has a political environment that encourages growth.

“Miami, I think, represents the future of America,” he said.