Playboy is putting money behind a new chapter in Miami Beach, announcing this week that it has signed an agreement to acquire the property currently operating as the Freehand Hotel and convert it into a private members club. The company says it has committed roughly $5 million in cash to the project, with plans to recoup that investment through future membership sales.
PLBY Group executives detailed the plan during a Nov. 5 earnings call, saying the company has signed an agreement “to acquire the property that is currently the Freehand Hotel in Miami Beach and to develop it into a private members club,” according to a Benzinga earnings-call transcript. The company described the Freehand site as covering approximately an acre, with five buildings arranged around a central courtyard and pool. As reported by The Real Deal, the entity behind the purchase, Playboy MB JV LLC, has the 89-room hotel and related properties at 2701, 2727 and 2731 Indian Creek Drive, 233 27th Street and 230 28th Street under contract for $12.5 million from an affiliate of London-based Generator, a price attributed to the South Florida Business Journal. That same reporting notes the property last sold for $12 million back in January 2012, and that the sale is expected to close by December 15, 2026.
Playboy said it has signed a term sheet with two operating partners: Think Hospitality, which would run the club, and Infinity Collective, which would handle the real estate development. Per the earnings-call transcript, both partners are expected to invest alongside Playboy in the project. The Real Deal's reporting adds that a separate entity, 2727 Indian Creek Dev LLC, was created for the Freehand property and is managed by executives from the New York-based Infinity Collective, which is also under contract to develop a 14-story building with 184 apartments, 43,000 square feet of offices and 42,000 square feet of retail at 1656-1680 Alton Road and 1677 West Avenue — a site it bought from an entity tied to Michael Shvo through a deed in lieu of foreclosure for $28.3 million in September 2025.
Why Playboy Says the Timing Makes Sense
Executives framed the Miami club as a better near-term use of company cash than a stock buyback the company had been weighing. “Given the potential licensing revenue and profit share opportunity, we felt it is a better use of our cash in the short term than the share repurchase we were contemplating,” the company said, according to a separate Gloom earnings-call transcript. PLBY Group reported $29.7 million in cash and cash equivalents in its most recent quarterly report, per The Real Deal's reporting.
Industry watchers are already sizing up the bet. Dealroom describes the deal as “a test of Playboy's plan to extend its brand into hospitality while staying asset-light,” according to its report on the acquisition, which also notes the deal had not yet closed at the time of its reporting. Playboy's history with physical clubs is mixed: the company's original club network peaked at 22 locations before the last one closed in Lansing, Michigan, in 1988, and a more recent Midtown Manhattan club that opened in September 2018 shut down by November 2019, according to The Real Deal.
A Headquarters Move Already Underway
The Freehand plan lands alongside Playboy's broader relocation from Los Angeles, where the company is currently based, to Miami Beach. The company signed a 20,000-square-foot office lease at 1691 Michigan Avenue, in a building owned by Robert Rivani, as part of that move, according to the Commercial Observer, which reported the company was shifting headquarters to the “more business-friendly” Miami Beach. Playboy later expanded its footprint there with additional long-term leases for the entire 25,865-square-foot penthouse, and Miami Beach approved a city incentive package for the company worth $200,000 annually over four years in 2025, per The Real Deal.
Not every piece of that headquarters plan has gone smoothly. Miami Beach voters on Nov. 3 rejected a proposal that would have extended Rivani's ground lease on the six-story building and added 47,000 square feet of space, including a members club and padel courts, according to The Real Deal's reporting. Separately, Playboy had also signed a non-binding term sheet for a proposed joint venture with unnamed third-party investors to acquire, develop and operate the Freehand property, the outlet reported.
Joining a Crowded Field of Miami Clubs
Playboy's Freehand bet arrives as private membership clubs have become a driver of ultra-luxury real estate sales across South Florida, The Real Deal reports. The South Florida Business Journal describes the trend in blunter terms, noting that “these clubs are becoming recruiting tools, dealmaking hubs and social ecosystems for the region's growing class of wealthy executives,” according to the South Florida Business Journal.
Competition in that space is already dense. The Delano Members Club launched alongside the reopening of the Delano Miami Beach in spring 2026, according to Miami New Times, while Faena Rose, the Faena Hotel's private club, caps membership at around 500 and charges roughly $10,000 in initiation fees plus $8,000 in annual dues, per the same outlet. The Bath Club's initiation starts around $20,000 with annual dues near $18,000, 1 Club memberships start at $7,500 a year with access to a 14,000-square-foot gym, and Soho Beach House memberships start around $875 per quarter, or $400 for members under 27, Miami New Times reports. Where Playboy's forthcoming club will land on that pricing spectrum has not been disclosed.
