Blackstone Snaps Up Ken Griffin’s 125 Worth Avenue in Palm Beach for $86M

Billionaire Ken Griffin just parted ways with his last remaining retail property on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Fla., Commercial Observer has learned.

Blackstone Real Estate has agreed to acquire the three-story office and retail building at 125 Worth Avenue, owned by Griffin since 2023, for $86 million in an all-cash deal, sources familiar with the trade said. 

Griffin previously bought the roughly 50,000-square-foot property from Dreyfuss Management and Frisbie Group for $83 million in 2023. 

“High-street retail continues to experience strong fundamentals, and Palm Beach represents one of the highest performing luxury retail markets in North America,” Elena Clarfield, principal at Blackstone Real Estate, told Commercial Observer.  

Indeed, as a retail corridor, the world famous Worth Avenue enjoys extreme scarcity when it comes to supply, coupled with soaring demand from a deluge of high-income residents into Palm Beach. Limited supply has also driven up property valuations in the prestigious area, evidenced by Acadia Realty Trust’s March 2026 acquisition of 225 Worth Avenue, leased to Gucci, for $43 million, or more than $4,329 per square foot. 

Blackstone declined to comment further but sources said the firm now intends to renovate the property, upgrading both the retail and office components to better align them with the continued evolution of Worth Avenue, a high-scale shopping district that’s home to several luxury tenants including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo and Van Cleef & Arpels. 

Representatives for Griffin could not immediately be reached for comment.

The transaction represents Griffin’s second disposition on Worth Avenue in under a year. Last November, the billionaire sold his 48,578-square-foot property at 151 Worth Avenue to the family of GoldenTree Asset Management financier Steven Tananbaum, Commercial Observer reported at the time. 

The recent sale comes a few months after construction began for Griffin’s 54-story office skyscraper in Miami’s Brickell district. The mogul has tapped Related Companies to spearhead the 1.7 million-square-foot project, where Griffin’s two businesses, hedge fund Citadel and market maker Citadel Securities, will be headquartered.

Earlier this year, Griffin also bought out a nearby condo building, which will likely be redeveloped into a mixed-use development. 

As for Blackstone, its Palm Beach purchase is consistent with the firm’s broader, global high street retail strategy. In August 2024, it acquired a 31,000-square-foot retail unit at 130-134 New Bond Street in London for £230 million; in November 2024, it scooped up four of ASB Capital Management’s retail assets in New York’s SoHo neighborhood for $200 million; and, also in 2024, it snapped up two luxury boutiques on Paris’ tres chic  Rue Saint-Honoré for €148 million, CoStar reported.  

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.