Manhattan’s Former Core Club Site on Market for $40M

The glamorous 34,436-square-foot commercial condominium that once housed Core Club at 66 East 55th Street is being marketed by Rudder Property Group and BK Real Estate Advisors (BKREA) for $40 million on behalf of RFR Holding, Commercial Observer has learned.

The building-within-a-building sits within the base of the 45-story, 76-unit residential condominium that opened in 2006 and is now known as Park Avenue Place. The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by Davis and RFR.

Core Club opened at the property, which sits between Park and Madison avenues, in 2005. Founder Jennie Enterprise, who had previously founded the Reebok Sports Club, obtained seed money for Core Club from developer Aby Rosen of RFR, who was among the founding members that later also included Roger Waters, Stephen Schwarzman, Kenneth Cole and Sir Norman Foster.

The commercial condominium still features the premium buildouts and specialty amenity spaces designed by Stonely Pelsinski Architects Neukomm (SPAN) that made Core Club the club to join when it first opened. These include a full commercial kitchen, library, screening room, restaurant, fitness facility and treatment rooms, along with numerous sitting and meeting rooms. All the interior furniture and fixtures appear to be included in the sale.

“We focused on creating specific motifs and came up with a chevron pattern, a kind of talisman which transforms as one moves throughout the club. It became a distinguishing feature, and was appropriately named the Core Pattern,” notes SPAN on its website. “A top-notch screening room, spa, an incredible restaurant run by Tom Colicchio and Dan Kluger and a library curated by George Plympton of The Paris Review came together in this confluence of creativity and exceptional dedication to their respective crafts.”

Michael Rudder and Justin Harris of Rudder Property Group and Bob Knakal, Ryan Candel and Tom Brady of BKREA are jointly marketing the commercial condominium, which pays $158,136 in annual common charges and, this fiscal year, will pay roughly $862,000 in real estate taxes.

“I am pleased to partner with Bob Knakal and the BK Real Estate Advisors team on representing RFR in the sale of 66 East 55th Street, a 35,000-square-foot building-within-a-building commercial condominium,” said Rudder.

Commercial broker Brandon Charnas, a co-founder of Current Real Estate Advisors who is familiar with the club but not involved in its marketing, said, “Trophy deals of this caliber will transact; the market will dictate the timing and to whom. The Core Club’s $40 million asking price underscores just how little top-tier space is available in the Plaza District. Its layout is ideal for a private club or hospitality-driven operator, and with so little premium food and beverage space in Midtown, it’s bound to attract attention.”

Given its history as a former club, the building contains a slew of amenities, including a screening room, lounge, kitchen and private dining area, 1,695-square-foot outdoor dining terrace, fitness center, spa with sauna, library and steam rooms and locker rooms.

In 2021, as a result of the COVID pandemic, neither Core Club nor Sweetgreen, the tenant in a different commercial condominium in the building, paid their rent. At the time, the club’s lease, which was to end in mid-2026, called for payments of $2.1 million per year for 32,000 square feet on the second through sixth floors and part of the lower level, while Sweetgreen, whose lease was set to expire in 2029, was paying $500,000 per year.  

Without the income, RFR could not make payments on its loan, and eventually a special servicer in a foreclosure action called for the condominiums to be sold to repay the remaining $23 million on a $25 million mortgage. In December 2021, RFR obtained a new mortgage from Signature Bank, and the case was voluntarily settled and dismissed in January 2022, as reported in The Real Deal. 

 Core Club moved to 711 Fifth Avenue, and reopened in September 2023. It has recently been embroiled in litigation with its new landlord, Michael Shvo, over what he describes as “a kitchen sink of frivolous claims.”