Photo: Scott McIntyre/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Would he stay or would he go?
During Vornado’s highly anticipated second-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning, its CEO, Steven Roth, revealed the company’s next steps for 350 Park Avenue, a 62-story supertall that’s one of the biggest office bets underway in the city. A question likely at the top of everyone’s minds was whether Ken Griffin, the Citadel CEO who had clashed with Mayor Mamdani over the rollout of his pied-à-terre tax announcement, would continue on as a major partner in the $4.5 billion project. Roth signaled it was, in fact, business as usual. “We intend to shortly exercise our investment option to participate in this deal at our maximum ownership percentage of 36 percent,” Roth said, “alongside Ken Griffin as our 60 percent partner and Citadel as our 1-million-square-foot anchor tenant.” In other words, the hedge-fund billionaire’s majority stake announced back in February stands.
It’s been a bumpy, blustery few months. In May, the hedge-fund titan and his firm threatened to pull out of the development project to spite Mamdani after the mayor made Griffin’s $238 million penthouse apartment at 220 Central Park South the poster child for a video announcing a proposed pied-à-terre tax that Albany would go on to pass. Roth had also spent a good six minutes on the company’s previous quarter’s earnings call going on a tear about how the viral video was “irresponsible and dangerous.” “We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said at the time. In response, Griffin said he would look into expanding Citadel’s jobs and footprint in Florida rather than in New York.
However, the news that the hedge-fund CEO is sticking to his original commitment at 350 Park isn’t that much of a shock. Even as he threatened to ditch New York, he effectively admitted, as so many others have before him, that you can’t entirely leave Manhattan for Miami and that he would “probably” continue with 350 Park. Just last month, demolition began on a trio of buildings along Park Avenue and East 52nd Street to clear the way for the Foster + Partners–designed skyscraper. On Tuesday’s call, Roth noted that the joint-venture closing for 350 Park is expected to take place in September. “We are extremely excited and bullish about the potential returns from this project,” he said.
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