Even billionaires can have trouble finding parking—especially if it involves a megayacht.
Billionaire Ken Griffin could not find a place to park Viva, his 308-foot boat behemoth, near his estimated $170 million 6.5-acre compound on Star Island, so he’s going to build a megamarina across the bay.
The exact parking spot will be at 120 MacArthur Causeway, according to BRG International, a luxury real estate firm. The notoriously hard-nosed Miami Beach Planning Board approved the private marina this week, according to multiple reports.
“This is almost an extension of his residence where his larger boats can be berthed,” Griffin’s lawyer and former Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin told the planning board.
The “boats” refer to the multiple yachts the hedge funder owns. The 3.8-acre marina can house up to nine, according to Bloomberg News, but the lawyer assured the board that Griffin would park only four.
Viva was built by Feadship in the Netherlands, with exterior design by Azure Yacht Design and interior design by Peter Marino. According to Superyacht Times, Viva is the 105th biggest yacht in the world.
Realtor.com® reached out to the Miami Beach Planning Board and Griffin’s attorney for comment, but they did not respond.
The superyacht is “environmentally friendly” and its interiors feel more like an “art museum,” according to Super Luxury Lifes. While it’s unclear what Griffin paid for this art museum on water, it’s been widely reported that the previous owner, Ultimate Fighting Championship billionaire Frank Fertitta, sold it to his fellow billionaire for $175 million.
A vessel like this won’t get just any old marina. According to Bloomberg, the development will have four buildings, including a two-story building for the billionaire’s personal use with a pool, art gallery, and office space. And there will be a separate headquarters with a gym and pool for his yacht crew.
Griffin also reportedly plans to hold events and parties, possibly for Art Basel, at the marina. This was a sticking point for the board, which wanted assurances that the marina, which is next to a naval base, wouldn’t keep service members up at night with raucous gatherings.
“Mr. Griffin has only been here for what? Four years?” one board member reportedly groused. “It’s usually the fifth year that they take on the Miami mantra of loving those ragers.”
Conditions for approval included requiring the Coast Guard’s authorization for special events, prohibiting traffic from spilling onto the public causeway, and limiting speakers to being no louder than ambient noise, said Bloomberg.
What Ken wants, Ken gets
Griffin has a way with planning boards.
In July, he received permission to build a taller-than-average fence around his massive Palm Beach property.
While the typically approved fence height is 7 feet, the money manager wanted the northern boundary of his 27-acre property to have a fence ranging in height between 9 feet 2 inches and 9 feet 11 inches.
BMA Architects, which designs luxury projects in Miami and the Hamptons, will oversee the design of the private marina, according to Luxury Launches.
Local real estate agents welcomed the development.
“I haven’t been [on Terminal Island] for years, but the last time I was, it wasn’t pretty,” Sam DeBianchi LaViola, the first female real estate agent on “Million Dollar Listing Miami,” tells Realtor.com.
She says that taking over a site that has “lost its luster” and transforming it into a luxury destination can be a winning move for all.
“Attracting the yachting/marina demographic naturally brings a lot of wealth to the area,” she says.
Devin Kay of The Exclusive Group at Douglas Elliman in Miami agrees.
“This proposal signals a shift in how Terminal Island is viewed, going from a largely industrial utility zone to a bespoke private-marina enclave,” he tells Realtor.com. “It suggests a broader repositioning of the neighborhood as part of Miami’s luxury waterfront inventory.”
Currently, Terminal Island is hardly a name in luxury. It hosts a Florida Power & Light plant, a Miami Beach maintenance yard, and ferry terminals that connect to Fisher Island, according to BRG International.
Kay predicts the opulent marina will raise the value of everything near it.
“For the surrounding area, the project could raise the profile, and the price basis, of any waterfront parcels nearby,” he says. “If high net worth capital starts clustering here, spillover into adjacent areas is likely.”
“The marina isn’t just a private amenity; it becomes a marker of Miami’s evolution into a global ultraluxury destination.”
The marina joins Griffin’s portfolio
The Citadel fund manager has amassed an enormous multibillion-dollar portfolio of real estate, with trophy properties in Chicago, New York, Palm Beach, Miami, the Hamptons, Aspen, and Saint-Tropez.
It’s not known if Griffin will extend yacht parking permission to any of his famous neighbors on Star Island. They include Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, and Shaquille O’Neal.
One neighbor unlikely to make an appearance at any of Griffin’s marina parties? Disgraced rapper and former Star Island resident Sean “Diddy” Combs, who currently calls the Fort Dix, NJ, prison home.