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Ken Griffin, the insanely wealthy hedge fund manager from the US, is raising the bar on luxurious living.

Griffin is a well-known character in the coastal community where Trump also swings his golf clubs. The actual billionaire is however now attracting attention with his ambitious plans to build the most expensive mansion on the entire planet, not just in America.

As his neighbour would say: It’s gonna be huge, so huge.

The mysterious banker, who is renowned for his clever investments as the founder and CEO of Citadel, has purchased more than 80,000 square metres of prime Palm Beach property. What’s even more bonkers is that Griffin has demolished the existing residences on this expansive site with the goal of spending an incredible $400 million (7.5 billion) on building an uber-estate that will be worth an estimated $1 billion (R18 billion) once it is finished.

Griffin’s tribute to hedge fund billions will be just a few hundred metres south of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago on a stretch of land known among locals as “Billionaires’ Row.”

As one industry insider pointed out, “If he spent nearly half a billion to buy up acres of land in Palm Beach over the last decade and is expected to spend $150 million (R2.8 billion) more to build an entirely new home, that piece of property is worth at least $1 billion now.”

According to insiders, the property will initially only be inhabited by Griffin’s mother, Catherine Gratz Griffin, but the billionaire plans to retire there as well.

Architect renderings of the build have already been submitted to the Town of Palm Beach, and the development is being done by Stoev Design Group, who are obviously smiling from ear to ear.

The mad idea began in December 2012 when Griffin used two different shell companies to buy up four neighbouring homes, totalling 32,000 square metres, in the Blossom Estate neighbourhood. This immediately gave him 170 metres of private coastline.

Following this, he acquired another waterfront house with a guesthouse at 70 Blossom Way, after which he forked out a colossal $85 million (R1.6 billion) for another oceanfront mansion. Most of these deals were done through separate companies, perhaps in an effort to avoid someone putting a stop to his colonisation of the Florida.

Despite the massive investment into his Palm Beach property, Griffin has relocated his family to Miami after moving his company from Chicago last year. So this is just a holiday home for the foreseeable future.

Bliksem, this is going to be some huisie by die see. That’s how you roll when you’re worth $34.2 billion.

[source:nypost&palmbeachdaily]