Good morning. Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, is making a bold, long-term wager, not just on his $69 billion hedge fund or his $2.5 billion Norman Foster-designed headquarters rising on Biscayne Bay. He’s betting on Miami as the next great American business capital. That is the premise of a new Fortune feature by my colleague Shawn Tully, which explores Griffin’s efforts to reshape Miami and influence American politics. For CFOs weighing corporate footprint decisions, Griffin’s Miami playbook offers a compelling case study. In 2022, Citadel moved its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, becoming one of several investment firms that shifted to Florida post-pandemic. For Griffin, the relocation was a long-term financial strategy. He’s investing not only in his firm, but in Miami as a future financial hub that he believes could one day compete with New York City. The move highlights how location decisions have become a core lever for cost, talent, and growth. Citadel now employs about 500 people in Miami, including Griffin; Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao and president Jim Esposito; and Sebastian Barrack, who has run the commodities trading franchise for a decade. New York and London remain larger by headcount, but Miami is Citadel’s fastest-growing outpost by far. Griffin told Fortune that he feels “optimism in the air here.” Many other companies have also planted roots in Miami. Since the pandemic, a growing roster of large firms, including ServiceNow, Wells Fargo’s wealth management unit, Palantir, Thoma Bravo, and Thiel Capital, has committed substantial operations to South Florida. McKinsey’s Miami office has become one of its fastest-growing in North America, expanding to several hundred employees over the past four years, while Banco Santander is developing a 41-story tower in Brickell, notes Tully. Still, there are risks. Miami’s growth is straining housing and infrastructure, which could erode some of its cost advantages over time. But the broader trend is clear: Companies are rethinking where and how they operate. Griffin’s bet may be unusually high-profile, but it reflects a broader corporate shift toward markets with lower costs, faster growth, and deeper talent pools. The data reinforces that trend: CoStar analysts project the U.S. office market will add roughly 10 million square feet of occupancy over the next year, with growth driven almost entirely by Sun Belt landlords. Sheryl [email protected] This story was originally featured on Fortune.com ...read more read less