Billionaire Citadel founder Ken Griffin has already conquered the land and the sea in Miami Beach. His next target? The air.
City commissioners approved Griffin’s massive private megayacht marina at 120 MacArthur Causeway a few months ago, but now Griffin wants to chopper in. He submitted a request for a private, waterfront helipad at his sprawling Terminal Island development, the Miami Herald reported.
The proposal, sponsored by Miami Beach Commissioner Joseph Magazine, is navigating the city’s Land Use and Sustainability Committee and the Planning Board. To clear the runway for Griffin, officials would need to amend Miami Beach’s land development regulations, allowing private helipads as an “accessory use” within Terminal Island’s industrial zoning district.
A helipad would be the cherry on top of Griffin’s planned ultra-exclusive development. He acquired the 3.5-acre site from Jorge Pérez’s Related Group, which had planned an office development. It’s adjacent to a U.S. Coast Guard station, a city maintenance yard and the Fisher Island ferry. Terminal Island sits across the causeway from Star Island, where Griffin has spent $169 million assembling residential parcels. However, his boat is too big for his Star Island mansion.
Griffin bought his 308-foot Lürssen superyacht Defy for a reported $175 million in 2024.
The planned marina, designed by BMA Architects, is set to feature eight megayacht slips (capped at four vessels at any one time), an owner’s pavilion and private suite, a separate crew pavilion and operations center and a rooftop swimming pool.
A helicopter option would allow marina users to bypass Miami traffic with privacy.
The Land Use Committee is expected to review the zoning amendment at its Sept. 16 meeting.
The request is the latest piece of Griffin’s aggressive South Florida expansion, as Citadel’s planned $2.5 billion Brickell headquarters tower is under construction at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, which can be an 8-mile traffic snarl to reach from Terminal Island, or maybe a 15-minute boat ride. — Rachel Stone
