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Decaying former Playboy Club in northwestern N.J. has been sold, mayor says

Updated: Apr. 01, 2024, 8:12 p.m.|Published: Apr. 01, 2024, 7:30 a.m.

5–6 minutes

The empty former Playboy Club — a longtime subject of fascination in northwestern New Jersey — has been sold, according to a local mayor.

Vernon Mayor Anthony Rossi posted an announcement about the sale on his Facebook page earlier this month and said he met with the new owner. However, no official announcement had been made about the property as of Thursday and it is unclear if a deal was finalized.

Rossi did not identify the new owner of the sprawling property in Vernon in Sussex County, which was last known as the Legends Resort & Country Club after the Playboy Club exited in the early 1980s.

“I am happy to announce that LEGENDS HAS SOLD!” Rossi, who took office in January, wrote on Facebook in a March 14 post.

“I met with the new owner in my office to discuss his plans. He has requested that we jointly work on a press release together outlining his plans, which will be released in the next few weeks,” the mayor added.

Rossi said Thursday he was unsure what was happening with a possible deal and had not been given any additional information about whether a sale would be announced soon.

The property’s owner, Metairie Corporation, has not announced a sale. The company’s attorney, Thomas Molica, did not respond Thursday to a request to comment.

Former Playboy Club in N.J. is a silent monument to a faded era

The Playboy Club was once among the most glamorous locations in New Jersey. Now the abandoned eight-story building in Vernon stands as a silent monument to a faded era. Vernon, N.J., Dec. 26, 2023Photo by Andre Malok

There have been false starts over the years in which possible future uses for the 600-room building have been floated in public, drawing enthusiasm, and then silence.

In 2018, a hedge fund announced it was planning to offer up to $12 million for the site and had entered into a financing agreement.

In 2020, then-Vernon Mayor Harry Shortway talked about the possibility of a new hotel, satellite campus for a college or senior housing on the property. In 2021, the township council nixed a proposal to spur redevelopment of the property by dropping the municipality’s bid to collect $60,000 in unpaid building and fire safety violation fines, among other measures.

The eight-story building has remained empty and continues to slowly deteriorate.

The former Playboy Club includes a suite that once belonged to Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine and his network of Playboy Clubs. It opened in 1972 to much fanfare, drawing scores of celebrity entertainers and customers served by costumed “Playboy Bunny” waitresses. But, the club closed a decade later.

It found new life as a series of hotels that opened and closed. Within two decades, the once luxurious hotel was nearly entirely turned over to low-income renters.

Amid concerns about safety and living conditions in the deteriorating building, Vernon officials in 2016 began enforcing a municipal ordinance barring anyone from staying more than 30 days in the building.

The last remaining tenants, approximately 40 renters, exited in 2018 following a court battle.

The site includes a crumbling pool, an overgrown parking lot, a barely recognizable tennis court and scores of birds lining its deserted hotel room balconies. Other than a few maintenance workers or others on official business, no one is allowed inside the building.

In his Facebook post, Rossi said he had several conversations with Hillie Meyers, president of Metairie Corporation, about the property and its liquor license during his first week in office.

“I advised him that Vernon could not continue down this road anymore and that we were moving forward. I also explained that the governor recently passed a law on inactive pocket liquor licenses, which he will also lose,” Rossi said in his post.

In late February, Meyers “requested another week or so to sort things out and has apologized for the delays,” according to the mayor.

That was followed by the announcement of a sale and his meeting with the new owner, Rossi said.

The former Playboy Club building is located in the woods about a half-mile from the Route 517 entrance. It is about 50 miles from Manhattan. Vernon’s biggest draw, the Mountain Creek ski resort, is less than two miles away.