New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani chose Tax Day to make a statement — and he made it standing on the sidewalk outside one of the most expensive private residences ever purchased in American history.
The mayor posted a video on April 15 through the NYC Mayor’s Office, filmed outside 220 Central Park South, the address where Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin owns a sprawling four-floor penthouse.
The clip quickly racked up nearly 470,000 views and 48,000 likes across social media platforms.
Griffin acquired that penthouse in 2019 for $238 million, a transaction that shattered records and became the most expensive single-family home sale ever completed on American soil at the time.
Standing on the street below, Mamdani used the property as the visual centerpiece for his announcement of New York City’s first-ever pied-à-terre tax. “When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich,” he declared in the one-minute clip. “Well, today we’re taxing the rich.”
The proposed levy would impose an annual surcharge on condominiums, co-ops, and one-to-three-family homes carrying valuations above $5 million, provided the owner’s primary residence falls outside New York City limits.
Mamdani’s office projects the tax could affect approximately 13,000 properties citywide and generate no less than $500 million in annual revenue.
Mamdani did not speak in generalities. He identified Griffin and the property directly. “This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city,” the mayor said. “Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.”
Griffin has not lived in New York full-time for years. He moved Citadel’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, establishing Florida as his primary state of residence — a state that levies no personal income tax.
He recently added a $38 million duplex apartment just steps from the same block where Mamdani delivered his announcement.
Seven days passed before Citadel responded. When the firm did, it came through Gerald Beeson, Citadel’s Chief Operating Officer, in an internal memo sent to employees that was subsequently obtained by the Wall Street Journal and other major outlets.
Beeson’s letter put a massive Midtown Manhattan construction undertaking directly in question. “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 mid-town New York,” he wrote. “The project—if we move forward—will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending.”
Those four words — “if we move forward” — placed more than two decades’ worth of economic activity in potential jeopardy, encompassing 6,000 construction positions and upward of 15,000 permanent roles in the heart of Midtown.
Beeson trained his sharpest language directly on the mayor’s decision to name Griffin publicly. “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,” the memo stated.
“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.”
The COO backed those words with numbers. Over the previous five years, Beeson wrote, Citadel’s “principals and team members (including nonresidents) have paid nearly $2.3 billion dollars in city and state taxes.”
Griffin personally directed $650 million in charitable contributions toward New York City institutions during that same period. Nearly 200 Citadel employees sit on the boards of local charitable organizations.
The firm currently employs close to 2,500 people who have planted professional roots in New York. “We have nearly 2,500 colleagues who have chosen to build their careers here,” Beeson wrote.
The memo closed with a pointed declaration. “We understand that our hard work and success will, on occasion, make us targets for political rhetoric.
But it should not diminish the pride we take in building firms that will continue to help New York City thrive for decades ahead.”
The pied-à-terre tax proposal carries the backing of Governor Kathy Hochul but still requires the state legislature’s approval before it can take effect. Projected revenues would fund free childcare, street cleaning, and neighborhood safety initiatives.
Mamdani inherited a $5.3 billion budget gap upon entering office, with the city’s budget deadline falling on May 1.
