Carnegie Mellon University is coming to Miami with the launch of a new campus in Wynwood, backed by billions in support from hedge fund executive and philanthropist Ken Griffin, the deal’s principals told the Miami Herald in an exclusive interview.

The high-tech campus seems sure to trigger the latest transformation of the neighborhood that in recent years found new energy with murals and nightlife. Griffin said the neighborhood’s proximity to downtown and popularity with young people made it a “wonderful” location for a college campus.

Griffin donated $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon, with $2 billion for the Miami campus and $1 billion for the university’s main campus in Pittsburgh. It is Griffin’s largest-ever gift and the largest single gift by an individual to an institution of higher education, according to a news release from Carnegie Mellon. “This may be the most impactful investment I will make in my lifetime — both for Miami and for our nation,” said Griffin, the Citadel CEO who relocated to South Florida in 2022. The Carnegie Mellon campus will take over what is now Mana Wynwood, a convention center in the heart of the former warehouse district. Moishe Mana, the founder and chairman of Mana Common who for years was Wynwood’s largest private landowner, confirmed he sold around 30 acres of his Wynwood holdings to Griffin for about $1.1 billion. A news release from Mana Common called the sale “the largest land assemblage deal in Florida history.”