Ken Griffin's New Miami Headquarters on Pause After Construction Accident — WSJ
By Deborah Acosta
MIAMI-Ken Griffin moved his Citadel headquarters to Florida after embracing the state's friendly pro-business policies. But building a skyscraper on Miami's porous and water-soaked shoreline is proving to be more treacherous.
A drill rig that was solidifying the foundation of Citadel's future Miami headquarters toppled onto traffic early Monday morning, crushing three vehicles, including one that burst into flames moments after the driver escaped.
The unusual incident at the construction site sent four people to the hospital and prompted county officials to issue a stop-work order. That shut down all construction and active operations at the site until an investigation and report are complete and accepted, according to Sergio Ascunce, building official for Miami-Dade County.
It is unclear how long the shutdown will last or precisely what caused the accident. These investigations can take up to six months, though they often take less time, according to a spokeswoman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal regulatory agency conducting the investigation.
"We are grateful that nobody was seriously injured in this week's incident," a spokesman for Griffin said. "We and our partners are focused on delivering this landmark project for the City of Miami."
A spokeswoman for Related Companies, which partnered with Griffin on the project, said: "We are working in full cooperation with City and County building departments to secure the site and conduct a full investigation," while a spokesman for Keller, the construction company on the project, said "our highest priority is the safety of our workers and the entire Brickell community."
The accident is the latest in a series of complications that have pushed back the project's timeline after Griffin purchased a Miami land parcel for $363 million in 2022.
Since then, he switched development partners. He also decided to expand the footprint of the project, which required creating a series of limited liability companies and persuading the majority of owners in a building across the street to sell. Workers on the site are now struggling with stormwater mitigation.
Griffin is building a 52-story tower designed by Foster + Partners to serve as his new global headquarters. As Griffin's plan for his new Miami office became more ambitious, the cost rose to an estimated $2.5 billion from $1 billion. The project will now include a residential tower of 300 units and a parking garage across the street.
Building in Miami is different from other U.S. cities, or even compared with working further up the Florida coast. The 2.5-acre waterfront site is currently undergoing a process of deep soil mixing, where massive 125-ton rigs, like the one that toppled over, drill holes deep into the soil.
In Miami, the soil consists of layers of porous limestone, sand and water. This means workers need to inject cement and churn dirt to create a more solid foundation to build the skyscrapers. In cities like New York, skyscrapers anchor into shallow bedrock, which provides a consistent foundation on which to build these massive multistory structures.
The waterlogged site has been dogged by stormwater mitigation issues for months, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. To alleviate the issue, the developer has installed temporary injection wells to divert stormwater back into the aquifer, but as of Sept. 15, they were still working on getting the permits to run them.
These issues are typical for a Miami building site along the waterfront, particularly during a King Tide, the time of year when the tide is highest in Miami.
Griffin is also planning another tower in New York City, and preleasing space in another office development under construction in London, but it is the Miami global headquarters that keeps making headlines.
"We went to Miami and revised our building plan to make it a bigger office building," said Griffin at the Milken Institute Global Conference earlier this year. "When we moved from Chicago there was a debate between New York and Miami. It's unquestionably true that we made the right choice."
When Citadel purchased the parcel, Griffin announced Chicago-based Sterling Bay as his development partner. A year later they parted ways. At the time, Griffin told the Journal that he was looking for a developer with more experience in South Florida.
He turned to Related Companies, a New York-based firm known for Hudson Yards, a giant retail and office complex built over an active rail yard on Manhattan's West Side.
Griffin has aggressively expanded his footprint, buying up surrounding properties including the Solaris Condominium complex across the street, which the hedge fund titan acquired unit by unit.
On the day of the construction accident, neighbors came by as they walked their dogs. "We're literally surrounded by Ken Griffin construction," said Christina Lardon, who lives in a building across the street from the construction site.
Others are more complimentary.
"I think, overall, Ken Griffin is bringing a lot of visibility to Miami," said Bryan Rub, a partner at Momentum Advisors, an independent advisory firm, who wandered by. "He's doing more positive for the city, probably, than anybody else."
Write to Deborah Acosta at deborah.acosta@wsj.com