Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is donating $3 billion to the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as part of a plan to bring an expansion campus to Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.
Carl Juste
cjuste@miamiherald.com
The leaders of Miami and Miami-Dade County both are praising Carnegie Mellon’s plans for an expansion campus in the hipster enclave of Wynwood, an expansion funded by $2 billion from local hedge-fund mogul Ken Griffin.
“I am thrilled Carnegie Mellon has chosen Miami-Dade for a major investment,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement posted on social media Wednesday. “Carnegie Mellon’s work in education, research and solving major challenges will only strengthen Miami-Dade as a leading destination for technology and innovation.”
Eileen Higgins, the mayor of Miami, which includes the Wynwood neighborhood, said the city will welcome the Pittsburgh university’s arrival “with open arms.”
“Carnegie Mellon is truly one of a kind, as a global leader in artificial intelligence and computer science,” Higgins said. “We are grateful for Ken Griffin’s vision, advocacy and confidence in our city’s extraordinary potential.”
Griffin donated $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon, with $2 billion for the Miami campus and $1 billion for the university’s main campus in Pittsburgh. It is Griffin’s largest-ever gift and the largest single gift by an individual to an institution of higher education, according to a news release from Carnegie Mellon. “This may be the most impactful investment I will make in my lifetime — both for Miami and for our nation,” Griffin, the Citadel CEO who relocated to South Florida in 2022, told the Miami Herald.
The new 35-acre campus will support more than 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 300 faculty and 600 staff. Construction is planned to start next year, and the university expects to begin enrolling students in 2028.
Carnegie Mellon University Miami will take over the site of Mana Wynwood, a convention center that hosts festivals and conferences. The venue was developed by businessman Moishe Mana, who was for a time Wynwood’s largest private landowner.
Miami Herald
Catherine Odom covers real estate for the Miami Herald. She previously interned on the Herald’s government team and has worked as a journalist in Germany and Armenia. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.