Global investment firm Citadel is rebuking New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to raise taxes on wealthy residents, while signaling that its planned redevelopment of 350 Park Ave. — a skyline-shaping office project tied to founder and CEO Ken Griffin — is not a foregone conclusion.
In a company memo obtained by CoStar News, Citadel Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson criticized Mamdani’s proposed pied‑à‑terre tax and suggested that the firm’s investment plans in Manhattan could be reconsidered. The memo was sent Thursday to roughly 2,500 Citadel employees in New York.
Beeson took issue with a social media video Mamdani filmed outside 220 Central Park South, where Griffin owns a four‑floor penthouse he purchased in 2019 for $238 million, then a record‑setting residential sale. The video, released April 15 and titled “Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich,” argued that luxury residences owned by nonresidents should face additional taxes.
Griffin relocated both himself and Citadel’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami during the pandemic.
“From his comments, it is apparent that the Mayor’s view is that these individuals do not contribute enough to the greater good,” Beeson wrote. “It is shameful that he used Ken’s name as the example of those who supposedly aren’t carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City’s often costly and wasteful spending. In doing so, the Mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world.”
While underscoring Citadel’s investment presence in New York, Beeson hinted that the firm’s development plans are not irreversible.
“We are about to commence the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, creating 6,000 highly paid construction jobs and supporting the creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in midtown New York. The project — if we move forward — will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending,” he said.
Citadel declined to comment further to CoStar News, while City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the memo.
Construction on the planned 1.85 million‑square‑foot office tower at 350 Park was slated to begin in April, according to Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth, who said in February that Citadel and an affiliate would serve as the building’s anchor tenant. Griffin is developing the project through a partnership with Vornado and Rudin, both New York-based real estate companies.
Citadel is also the anchor tenant at 425 Park Ave., a 47‑story, 670,000‑square‑foot tower between East 55th and 56th streets that opened as the first full-block office development on Park Avenue in more than 50 years.
In the memo, Beeson highlighted Citadel’s economic footprint in New York, noting that over the past five years the firm’s principals and employees — including nonresidents — have paid nearly $2.3 billion in city and state taxes. Those revenues support public services such as infrastructure, schools, parks and first responders, he said.
His remarks come as Mamdani has also proposed raising taxes on individuals earning more than $1 million annually and on the city’s most profitable companies to help close a budget gap. He has additionally floated a 9.5% property‑tax increase if revenue from high‑income earners falls short.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently warned that New York, the nation’s largest property market, risks losing more jobs and businesses as high taxes and rising costs erode its competitiveness.
According to the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission, million‑dollar earners — less than 1% of New York’s personal income tax filers — already pay roughly 40% of both city and state personal income taxes. The group has cautioned that additional tax increases on high earners could undermine “New York’s value proposition” and accelerate the city’s declining share of high‑income residents who “provide significant revenue critical to support services.”
While New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has expressed support for Mamdani’s pied‑à‑terre tax proposal, she has also acknowledged that the relocation of wealthy residents to places such as Palm Beach, Florida, has weakened the state’s tax base.