Point72 to Expand With Florida Offices as Managers Head South

(Bloomberg) -- Steve Cohen is looking to Florida for additional office space, joining the growing list of hedge fund managers opening outposts in the Sunshine State.

Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management will open an office at 360 Rosemary in West Palm Beach before the end of June, according to Tiffany Galvin-Cohen, a spokeswoman for the firm. It’s also scouting a location in Miami that it expects will be ready in the latter half of the year.

The firm is adding the offices to accommodate current and prospective employees who want to move south. The locations will initially hold a total of about 45 people, mainly investment staff. Point72, which employs 1,600 workers globally, has no plans to cut space in its Stamford, Connecticut headquarters or in its Hudson Yards offices in New York City, Galvin-Cohen said.

Point72, which oversees $19 billion, joins a number of financial firms located in high-tax states -- including Elliott Management Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citadel -- that are shifting their headquarters or adding outposts in Florida, which has no state income tax.

Before moving into 360 Rosemary, Point72 will set up a temporary office in West Palm Beach in the next few weeks, according to the spokeswoman.

Other tenants at 360 Rosemary will include Comvest Partners, Norwest Equity Partners and law firm Lewis, Longman & Walker. The landlord, Related Cos., is known for developing giant mixed-use projects such as Manhattan’s Hudson Yards and Time Warner Center but in recent years has been ramping up activity in Florida.

Related is investing more than $600 million into developing a mixed-use neighborhood called Rosemary Square at West Palm Beach, including the building Point72 is taking space in. It also owns the Hilton West Palm Beach and recently agreed to buy the nearby Phillips Point office building, which counts New York-based Morgan Stanley and other finance firms as tenants.