Wall Streeters who fled to Florida amid COVID want to return

Wall Street elite who flocked to Florida to ride out the COVID-19 crisis now have regrets — and are eyeing a move back to the Big Apple.

“The main problem with moving to Florida is that you have to live in Florida,” Jason Mudrick, the founder of Mudrick Capital Management, told Bloomberg.

Those among the upper crust are being drawn back to New York for its choice selection of private schools, restaurants and cultural institutions — as well as the city’s deep pool for young talent when it comes to finance jobs.

“New York has the smartest, most driven people, the best culture, the best restaurants and the best theaters,” the Manhattan resident of more than two decades admitted to the outlet.

“Anyone moving to Florida to save a little money loses out on all of that.”

Bloomberg said well-heeled executives escaped to the Sunshine State, in part, for its lack of state income tax, compared to New York City’s — which is among the country’s highest.

Firms including Elliott Management Corp., Citadel and Point72 Asset Management all had plans to open up shop in Florida, while some bigwigs began settling down in Palm Beach — like Scott Shleifer, of Tiger Global Management, who purchased a $132 million home there.

But now, businessmen like Dan Sundheim, who founded hedge fund D1 Capital Partners, and billionaire David Tepper are leaving their Palm Beach mansions behind in favor of New York, Bloomberg said.

One unidentified hedge funder told Bloomberg that his children’s Big Apple school and the charm of the City that Never Sleeps may lure his family back from Miami, where they’ve been staying for six months.

Data from the US Postal Service show that 2,246 people filed a permanent address change from Manhattan to Miami-Dade County, while 1,741 relocated to Palm Beach County last year, the publication reported. They comprised of 9 percent of out-of-state moves from the borough, an increase from 6 percent in 2019.

But despite the initial fanfare of Florida, Manhattan residents actually packed up and moved out to places like Jersey City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Hoboken — more so than Miami or Palm Beach.

Meanwhile, Mudrick predicted that the snowbirds who headed south will soon be returning, with New York on the cusp of reopening.

“It will be like the Roaring Twenties — you’ll see a resurgence here like never before,” he told Bloomberg. “You want to be buying New York and selling Florida — that’s the contrarian in me.”