NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — While New Yorkers gathered in the Canyon of Heroes to celebrate the Knicks, Ken Griffin shoveled dirt next to a canyon on the Upper East Side.
The massive hole in the ground at the corner of 67th Street and York Avenue is where Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is building a 27-story tower that will bear the Citadel founder’s name. He and fellow billionaire David Geffen promised $400 million in 2023 for the inpatient facility, which will feature private rooms for every patient and help respond to a projected rise in cancer cases.
It will join many other institutions in New York City that have received sizable gifts from Griffin, who lives in Miami, including the Hospital for Special Surgery and the American Museum of Natural History. His New York tower and philanthropy will continue, Griffin said, even after his recent public spat with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In April, Mamdani singled out Griffin in a video about a planned pied-à-terre tax, sparking a feud with the billionaire who employs thousands in the city. In the immediate aftermath, Citadel threatened to cancel development of a new office tower at 350 Park Avenue. Griffin then expanded his building plans in Miami.
Griffin, 57, struck a more conciliatory tone on Thursday.
“Everything should be viewed through the lens of, Citadel will be here far longer than he’ll be mayor,” said the Citadel founder, who’s worth $48.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He added that the city’s business leaders should push back against Mamdani’s policies.
“They need to find their voice and fight for their city,” Griffin said. “My advice is to speak up. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? It will be that New York empties of talent and that’s a catastrophe. If the mayor wants to say a few words about you, your record speaks for itself: You create jobs, you create value and you pay taxes.”
Griffin said he plans to talk to Mamdani “at some point in the months ahead.”
“Let’s see where he is on the state of policy at that time,” he said. “Actions speak louder than words.”
The Kenneth C. Griffin Pavilion is expected to open around 2030. To mark the start of construction, he was on site wielding a golden shovel alongside MSK Chief Executive Officer Selwyn Vickers and others.
“Our first conversation was like none other,” Vickers said of meeting with Griffin. “It was a conversation with a partner, not a donor.”
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