Billionaire Carl Icahn Officially Leaves NY for Florida

Billionaire businessman Carl Icahn has formally relocated from Fifth Avenue in New York City to Florida, leasing 23,463 square feet of office space to become the first tenant of the new 14-story Milton Tower in Sunny Isles Beach.

The move, which Icahn informed the employees of his Icahn Enterprises holding company conglomerate last year, gives him one fifth of the Milton building including the penthouse and the 12^th floor, the New York Post reported.

Icahn moved his operations during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Milton Tower's Executive Director Guy Gil told the Post. Icahn has owned a home since 1997 in the exclusive community of Indian Creek Village, located on an island in Biscayne Bay, which has only 41 houses owned by the likes of singer Julio Iglesias and former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula.

It is less than a mile to Sunny Isles Beach.

The 84-year-old native of the Far Rockaway neighborhood in New York City's borough of Queens, was one of President Donald Trump's earliest Wall Street supporters and followed him to the Sunshine State after Trump announced Oct. 31 he had officially changed his state of residency.

Sunny Isles Beach is a town of about 20,000 on less than two square miles on a barrier island north of Miami. It is renowned for having the 14^th tallest skyline in the United States despite its relatively small population. MTV headquartered its 2008 spring break broadcasts from the municipality.

When announcing plans to his employees, Icahn explained his decision as a personal one.

"While I certainly don't wish to retire, I've decided at this point in my life, I'd like to enjoy a warmer climate and more casual pace year-around," he said in his letter.

The news of Icahn's relocation comes as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pleaded with wealthy New Yorkers to return to New York City following their exodus during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

"A single percent of New York's population pays half of the state's taxes," Cuomo said, "and they're the most mobile people on the globe."

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