New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani highlighted Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse in a viral video announcing the new pied-à-terre tax. (Credit: NORGES BANK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT)
A threat from hedge fund Citadel to close its $6 billion Midtown Manhattan offices over a tax proposal from Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatens to derail the business of local grocers, vendors told FOX Business.
The fund, which was founded by Ken Griffin in 1990, came under threat after Mamdani took direct aim at Griffin when he announced a new tax on second homes in the city.
“This is the annual fee for luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full time in the city. Like this penthouse, hedge fund executive Ken Griffin bought for $238 million,” said Mamdani in a video announcing the new tax.
On April 15, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a video outside Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse promoting a new “tax-the-rich” policy. (Spencer Platt/Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Griffin, whose net worth of $51 billion puts him among the 35th richest people in the world, slammed Mamdani’s video as a “personal attack” and said it showed “a profound lack of judgment.”
The dispute could derail a project that would build New York’s second-largest building and inject billions of construction dollars into the local economy.
After Mamdani’s April 15 video, Citadel COO Gerald Beeson revealed that the plan to move forward with Citadel’s skyline project at 350 Park Avenue may not go ahead.
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“We are about to restart the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, create 6,000 high-paying construction jobs and support the creation of more than 15,000 jobs in Midtown New York,” Beeson wrote in an April 23 letter to employees.
“This project – if we move forward – will involve more than six billion dollars,” he wrote. The “if” in Beeson’s memo could carry significant weight.
The 62-story building sitting near the heart of Midtown Manhattan’s Turtle Bay neighborhood could be a boon, not only for the city’s construction and financial sectors, but also for local food vendors who have been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated Midtown’s foot traffic.
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“If the owner brings more people, it will be a big business. Like, about now, this time should be easy,” said Maria, who runs the Eggstravaganza food truck on the corner of Park and E. 52nd Street, he told FOX Business.
Maria from the Eggstravaganza food truck stands in front of her truck’s window. Maria has been bringing her truck to Midtown Manhattan for 13 years. (Fox News Digital)
“Before this pandemic it was like, I can’t even talk to you right now,” she said, speaking to FOX Business shortly after noon. “But now everything changed. A lot of companies are moving to different places. A lot of companies have moved to SoHo, different places … Hudson Yards, a lot of people.”
Maria cited several factors in her client’s decline in volume, including the 2025 shooting at 345 Park Avenue that prompted Blackstone to temporarily close its offices and have more than 3,000 employees work from home.
“So if this building brings in more customers, that would help.”
But if Citadel follows through on its threat, it could draw much-needed cash from the area.
“Cancelling a business like this will also disrupt our business because we depend on the cars of the people here,” Ash, who works in Rafiqi’s truck next to Maria’s, told FOX Business.
Ken Griffin, CEO and founder of Citadel Advisors LLC, during an interview on “Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein” on Feb. 25, 2022. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
His business, which he has been operating for 25 years in Manhattan, is facing collapse.
“Prices have gone up, following the new government here… it affects us a lot,” Ash said. “The international situation, the war in Iran, affects us as well. Everything is rising. It is difficult for us. We have to keep our values and, we cannot change many of our values,” said Ash.
“When businesses went down, we all suffered,” a vendor who ran a Greek halal cart on 51st Street told FOX Business. “Many friends had to go back to their homes in their countries,” said a seller who asked that his name be withheld.
Mamdani appeared to moderate his attack on Griffin, even thanking the head of the Citadel for funding the police memorial.
“I would also like to thank Ken Griffin for funding the memorial wall that will be opened later this year,” said Mamdani.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani held a press conference at the Unisphere in the Queens borough of New York City, on Nov. 5, 2025. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
Griffin recently met with New York Governor Kathy Hochul at the end of April to discuss “the future direction of New York” amid Mamdani’s tax proposals.
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FOX Business has reached out to representatives of Mamdani, Hochul and Citadel for further comment.
