A rental contract does not usually provide enough space for owners, except if it is for a centrally located apartment in Madrid or Barcelona for less than 600 euros. Then, it would be a miracle. But when the signer is one of the names that they defined Silicon Valley and their destination is Florida, things change.
As and how I collected the North American Fox BusinessPeter Thiel has just signed the contract for what will be his offices in Miami, paying more than anyone else in that city before. “For Peter Thiel to sign that lease, marking a milestone of $250 per square foot, is absolutely incredible,” said Joe DaGrosa, founder and president of the real estate investment consultancy. DaGrosa Capital Partners.
The record price reached in office rentals draws attention, but what is truly interesting is what lies behind it: a historic name in Silicon Valley is willing to pay more just to leave California as soon as possible, joining (and urgently) the migratory wave of millionaires who have already established their residence in front of the warm waters from Miami.
A record rental that hides a trend
Thiel’s office will occupy part of the 44th floor of the tower 830 Brickella busy building in which it will share elevators with companies such as Microsoft or Citadel. Its offices will occupy about 1,690 m2 and the price that has registered the record is $2,690.98 per square meter. That is, a bill of 4.55 million dollars per year.
As Joe DaGrosa explained to Fox Businessthe average rent in that area was around $40 or $60 per square foot for an office, which implies that Peter Thiel would be paying between 525% and 316% surcharge for the rent of their offices.
The increase in the price of business land in South Florida already compete with the prices of Manhattan and San Francisco. This price increase has arisen from the growing interest of technology companies that until now had their headquarters in Silicon Valley, but are now moving en masse to Miami, following in the footsteps of their founders.
Thiel hasn’t arrived in Florida overnight. Just like other millionaires have done like Jeff Bezos o Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, Thiel bought a property in Miami Beach more than five years ago.
In December 2025, with California already debating the tax on great fortunes, Thiel Capital announced that opened office in that same area. The final blow came in February with the announcement of Palantir: the company chaired by Thiel confirmed the move from its headquarters to Miami, thus completing the migration of Thiel’s main businesses to Miami.
Expelled by a tax that does not exist
Behind so much movement there is a very specific reason: tax payment. California has been debating for months application of a tax single 5% on the assets of those who exceed $1 billion and reside in the state on January 1, 2026. This tax is expected to raise about $100 billion over the next five years, which will be used to mitigate cuts in social benefits for the most vulnerable population in California.
The measure has already gathered more than 1.5 million signatures, well above the million necessary, and was confirmed to be submitted to vote next November after the failure of negotiations between the driving unions and Governor Gavin Newsom, who is against imposing the new rate that would affect about 200 people.
That is, the millionaires already have started their preventive migration reacting to a tax that has not even been approved and that does not even have the support of the state governor.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin left California before the tax deadline. Page paid more than 170 million dollars for two houses in Coconut Grove, and Brin was bought a 51 million home on Allison Island. Mark Zuckerberg, after two decades in San Francisco, changed zip code to become Jeff Bezos’ neighbor in Billionaire Bunker.
The great beneficiary of the move It’s been Florida. His choice has not been causal, and responds to a compelling reason: he does not charge income or wealth tax, and that weighs a lot when the fortune is counted in billions of dollars.
Not all technology magnates take a dim view of the tax on large fortunes. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, has expressed his willingness to pay taxes get approved and stay in California. But Thiel already donated three million dollars to the California Business Roundtable, the group fighting the proposal.
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