Miami Mayor Francis Suarez made an appearance on Fox Business where he discussed Miami’s booming economy, referring to it as “on fire,” as the city posts repeated increases in real estate sales, an influx of new jobs, and the welcoming of tech businesses from states like California and North Carolina.
Miami in recent years has made its mark as a burgeoning tech city, being named one of the top cities in America for eCommerce business. The city has managed to carve out a niche in the cryptocurrency space, with the creation of a cryptocurrency specific to the area: MiamiCoin.
“It’s on fire,” said Suarez. “Our tax base grew by 12 percent year over year. We’ve transferred over $2 trillion in assets under-managed companies in the last two years. Our venture capital pipeline grew by 400 percent year over year. It’s amazing what following some basic principles will do for a city like keeping taxes low, keeping people safe, keeping homeless low. We are at a 2013-year low in homelessness where our tax rate is at a 1960s low and our homicide rate is at a 1950s low.”
South Florida has seen an influx of new residents from both domestic and international origins, as well as businesses moving headquarters seeking more favorable tax structures. The surge in people inhabiting the city has led to higher demand for real estate, driving prices higher while keeping the market red-hot. Miami-Dade County’s real estate market continues to skyrocket, as the Miami Association of Realtors in MArch registered the county’s third-highest month ever in terms of sales.
“If you keep people safe, you focus on quality of life, it’s an incredible difference from what people are seeing in other major cities across America. And we now live in a decentralized world where you don’t have to physically be somewhere to be able to be successful. And people like Ken Griffin are proving that.” continued Suarez. “When Citadel moved to Palm Beach initially during the pandemic, they prove that they could be a massive market maker and not have to be in New York or Chicago. And now he’s made the move. So we’re excited to have Ken Griffin and his family in Miami.”
Ken Griffin, Illinois’ richest person and founder of industry-leading investment firm Citadel, announced in June that he is relocating his company from Chicago to Miami, citing a more business-friendly atmosphere and a comparative reduction in crime.
In a memo sent to employees, Griffin noted that Florida harbors a better corporate environment due to its favorable tax structure and lack of an income tax. The move is expected to be a multi-year process and will necessitate the construction of a new office building in the downtown Miami neighborhood of Brickell.
In prior years, Griffin threatened to pull Citadel out of Illinois, referring to Chicago in 2013 as a city of “broken schools, bankrupt pensions, rising crime, a declining tax base, and public corruption.”
“Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin said in his memo to employees. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York, and our other offices around the world.”
Citadel is one of the most successful hedge-fund firms, overseeing $51 billion in assets and regularly outpacing competitors and the market, making a swift recovery following the 2008 recession.
Source: The Capitolist