#Ken Griffin sells Faena House penthouses in Miami at a loss

Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin has developed a reputation for spending big on real estate — setting new records from New York to Miami. Now he’s selling at a loss.

In 2015, Griffin paid a then-record $60 million for two penthouse units at the Faena House in Miami only to put them on the market the following year for $73 million. He reportedly planned to combine them but never did.  

Now Griffin, worth an estimated $15 billion according to Forbes, is poised to take a $12.5 million loss on the properties. He sold the bigger penthouse unit for $35 million, and the second property, which recently asked for $12.5 million, is in contract, according to The Real Deal.

The Faena building — an ultra-luxury oceanfront condo developed by Alan Faena, an Argentine developer and hotelier, and Ukrainian-born oligarch Len Blavatnik — has been riddled with problems since it was completed in 2016.

Last September, the condo association sued the developer, general contractor and subcontractors for faulty work, including a broken elevator in the penthouse, missing art, cracks in the concrete and bad paint jobs, the Real Deal reported. 

“Buyers were upset with the concrete cracks from the start,” said one top broker who derided the building as “so nouveau.” 

Faena House owners are also reportedly upset about Blavatnik’s planned investment in a 250-foot tower next door to be developed by fellow oligarch, real estate developer and hotelier Vlad Doronin, who got his start with the late former US fugitive Marc Rich before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Douglas Elliman’s Oren Alexander repped buyer and seller for the larger unit. Ryan Mendell of Maxwell E. Realty repped Griffin in the sale of the second unit.  Both brokers declined comment. Griffin did not respond for comment at press time. 

That’s not to say Griffin, founder and CEO of Chicago-based Citadel, is giving up on Florida. In fact, he appears to be expanding his footprint in the Sunshine State both personally and professionally.

He’s spent around $95 million on four lots on Miami Beach’s Star Island, a star-studded enclave off the coast of Miami that’s home to celebrities like Sean “Diddy” Combs, including $60 million for three lots in August.

He’s also shelled out some $350 million for land in Palm Beach, where he’s launched a temporary office for his market-making business, Citadel Securities. The Citadel hedge fund business is also opening an office in Miami next year but will remain headquartered in Chicago, a person with knowledge of his plan confirmed to The Post.