Miami residents rage against Ken Griffin, fresh from his pied-à-terre battle with Mamdani, over his plan for 'noisy' heliport

“We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the Mayor’s poor decision here,” said Griffin to CNBC.

Perhaps because of that, Griffin has announced plans to build a personal heliport near his home in Miami beach. His neighbors aren’t happy.

“He’s saying that his helicopter is the quietest model, that noise won’t be an issue for us,” said John Stimmel, president of a luxury condo group near the proposed helipad site, to Bloomberg. “I asked ChatGPT if landing helicopters that close will be noisy, and guess what? It will be noisy.”

Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes.

Griffin says helicopter trips would have a ‘low impact’ on neighbors, but some worry otherwise

Griffin wants to build the helipad as part of a larger marina for his yachts that’s already been approved. His attorney, Neisen Kasdin, told Bloomberg that the marina would make for a more convenient location than the landing pad he’s currently using, which is around 2.5 miles west of the proposed spot.

According to studies commissioned by Griffin, the helicopter wouldn’t generate noise louder than “normal conversation between two people” for people hanging out on the nearby condo building’s balconies.

“The bottom line is it will have no, or virtually no, effect on any of the units or the residents there,” said Kasdin during the public hearing to decide whether Griffin would be allowed to build the helipad. That didn’t convince some of the neighbors present at the hearing.

“We’re doing all this for one individual?” Brian O’Brien, a representative of local condo residents, reportedly responded. “We are upsetting our quality of life so Mr. Griffin can land a little closer to his house?”

The committee ended up approving the plans, but Griffin still has to get approval from the full Miami Beach City Commission before he can move forward. That meeting won’t take place for another two months.

Commissioner Joseph Magazine recommended Griffin spend that time getting some of the neighbors back on his side.

“Don’t spend the time lobbying the commissioners; lobby the neighbors,” Magazine said. “Put all your resources on threading the needle with residents.”

Would a man with a heliport struggle to pay Mamdani’s pied-à-terre taxes?

Griffin is currently facing problems that only the very richest of us could ever hope to face. His helicopter, an Airbus H160, costs at least $14 million; the site he purchased to build his marina on cost $77 million alone, before any of the costs to build it are added in.

Forbes estimates that Griffin’s net worth is around $58 billion.

So why, then, is Griffin so upset about the pied-à-terre tax?

In fairness, one of the biggest problems Griffin had with Mamdani’s announcement video was that it called him out directly, and that it was filmed directly outside his penthouse — revealing its location to people who might not have otherwise known.