Ken Griffin, a hedge fund billionaire and the wealthiest man in Illinois, has bought the top floors of a luxury Gold Coast condo for $58.5 million, according to Chicago Patch. 

Rendering courtesy of No. 9 Walton

The 37-story condo, No. 9 Walton, is currently being built by JDL Development and HPA Architecture. The 71-unit building has been in the works for several years. The developers recently got permission to increase the building’s height from 430 feet to 456 feet. The height increase was requested to accommodate for more space in the penthouse. 

An entity run by Griffin purchased the top four floors of the building, which includes more than 25,000 square feet of living space, according to the report.

Griffin (age 49) has an approximate net worth of $8.8 billion, according to Forbes. He is No. 52 on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in the country. Griffin’s wealth stems from Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund that he started and continues to run. 

The previous record for the most expensive condo ever sold in Chicago belongs to a condo at 800 N. Michigan Ave. bought for $18.75 million in 2015, according to the report. The sale was connected to “Star Wars” mogul George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson. 

The Gold Coast is no stranger to pricey home sales. In 2016, the neighborhood’s full-floor Waldorf Astoria penthouse sold for $11.7 million by Chicago trader Igor Chernomzav, according to DNAinfo. In 2006, billionaire venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker sold his expansive single-family home in the Gold Coast for $14.5 million, according to the Chicago Patch report.

The $58.5 million price tag for the top floors of No. 9 Walton might be an outlier, but the market for luxury condos in general is continuing to show signs of growth. There are plenty of luxury and boutique condo projects set to move forward this year.

Since 2015, Chicago has approximately 287 new condo units make it to market each year. Condos are trending toward the larger size, with the average condo now being about 2,500 square feet. In 2016, 486 condos sold in downtown Chicago, up from 415 downtown units sold in the previous year.

As more condo buildings go up, their price continues to climb. Data pulled from an Appraisal Research survey shows that the price of existing downtown condos increased from $338 per square foot in 2012 to $420 per square foot in 2016.

The price for new condos is even steeper. A 2016 Downtown Chicago Benchmark report found that 79 percent of condos yet to be bought had an average price of $700 per square foot.

The luxury condo market is showing robust growth, but it make take a while for someone to beat Griffin’s record No. 9 Walton purchase price. Griffin is also expected to spend at least $25 million on finishing prices for the penthouse, Chicago Patch reports.