Citadel's Miami move: Ken Griffin explained the other reason it began

efinancialcareers.com:

Hedge fund Citadel is going all out on Miami. Having relocated some Citadel Securities staff to the Four Seasons Palm Beach during the pandemic, it's since poached the executive chef of the hotel to be its «global head of culinary» and has commissioned architects Foster + Partners to build a new«iconic tower» office space on a 2.5 acre waterfront plot at Brickell Bay as it moves its head office to Miami from Chicago.

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Citadel founderKen Griffin has spoken at length about his reasons for relocating the firm's head office. Miami is «rich in diversity and abounding with energy,» Griffin informed his employees in 2022 when he announced the move. By comparison, Griffin criticized Chicago as having a problem with crime and said that many Chicago-based employees had already asked to transfer out of the city. 

Speaking last week at the Futures Industry Association's annual gathering, however, Griffin elaborated another reason why Miami was chosen in the first place. In the midst of the pandemic, Griffin said Citadel chose to open «a facility» in Palm Beach after its research suggested that, «viruses in general are less transmissible in a high-humidity, high-sunlight environment.

»Take out a map of the United States and you end up pretty quickly focused on South Florida as a destination for where you're going to move people to in a moment where you're trying to manage the health considerations of your team," Griffin added.  

Griffin and his family moved to Miami sometime in 2022. Various other employees have also relocated.Business Insider this week published glowing testimonies from a portfolio manager, aquant researcher and two other Citadel employees on why it's good to live