Chris Gradel is a romantic at heart — at least when it comes to office buildings. For the past seven years, the co-founder, managing partner and chief investment officer of Hong Kong–based Pacific Alliance Group has been operating his growing hedge fund empire from St. John’s Building, an unremarkable 22-story rectangle of glass and steel in the city’s Central business district that is overshadowed by much newer and taller towers. As other managers in Hong Kong have flocked to such glitzy buildings as the 62-story Cheung Kong Center, whose tenants include U.S. multistrategy giant Eton Park Capital Management, Gradel has stuck with St. John’s, where he started his firm with just $10 million in assets and a lone secretary, subletting a single room.
"We have a slight sentimental attachment," says Gradel, 37, whose firm now occupies three floors, has $3 billion in assets under management and...