Playboy Agrees to Buy Miami Beach’s Freehand Hotel for $12.5 Million, Plans Members-Only Club

Featured image: The former Indian Creek Hotel building, now part of the Freehand Miami, at Indian Creek Drive and 28th Street in Miami Beach, in a Nov. 16, 2018, file photo. Photo: Tamanoeconomico, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.

Playboy has agreed to pay $12.5 million for the Freehand Miami hotel in Miami Beach and plans to turn it into a members-only private club, according to the company’s quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Playboy signed the purchase agreement on Nov. 2, 2026, and is scheduled to close by Dec. 15. The Playboy Freehand Miami Beach deal comes as Playboy prepares to move into its new Miami Beach headquarters.

Figures from Playboy Inc.’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, and the purchase agreement filed with it.

The deal: price, timing and who is buying

The buyer is Playboy MB JV LLC, an indirect, wholly owned Playboy subsidiary. The seller is Freehand Indian Creek LLC, formerly Sydell Indian Creek LLC. The agreement covers the hotel at 2701, 2727 and 2731 Indian Creek Drive, 233 27th Street and 230 28th Street in Miami Beach. Bisnow and the Miami Herald reported that the seller entity traces to London-based hotel brand Generator.

Playboy paid a $1.25 million deposit when it signed, and the rest of the $12.5 million is due at closing. The deposit is 10% of the price, by The Boston Report’s calculation. It is generally non-refundable and will be credited toward the price. The purchase does not depend on Playboy getting financing. If Playboy fails to close without a valid reason, the seller can keep the deposit. If the seller defaults, Playboy can get its deposit back plus up to $150,000 in documented costs, or ask a court to force the sale. The seller’s liability after closing is capped at 1% of the price, which works out to $125,000.

Playboy said it intends to redevelop the property as a member-only private club. The company also signed a non-binding term sheet for a joint venture with outside investors to buy, develop and run the property. The filing says that venture would be set up at or before closing, but there is no guarantee a final agreement will be signed. Bisnow named the partners as Think Hospitality and Infinity Collective. Playboy’s senior lenders consented to the deposit, and the company expects to amend its credit agreement before closing.

A hotel with history on Indian Creek

The Freehand Miami opened in 2012 in the former Indian Creek Hotel, a building that dates to 1936, and is known for its Broken Shaker bar. Bisnow reported, citing Miami-Dade County property appraiser records, that the seller paid $12 million for the property in 2012. That would make Playboy’s price $500,000, or about 4.2%, higher in dollars that are not adjusted for inflation, by The Boston Report’s calculation.

The deal is a return for Playboy to a business it ran in South Florida decades ago. The Herald noted that Playboy once owned a hotel on Collins Avenue and a club on Biscayne Boulevard. Bisnow reported that the last U.S. Playboy club closed in Lansing, Michigan, in 1988.

By the numbers: what $5 million means for Playboy

Playboy said it has committed about $5 million of its own cash to the purchase and expects to recoup it from future club memberships. That is 40% of the purchase price. It is also about 16.8% of the $29.7 million in unrestricted cash Playboy reported on Sept. 30, both Boston Report calculations from the filing.

Playboy’s results have improved from a year ago. Net revenue for the third quarter rose 9.4% to $31.7 million from $29.0 million. Operating income nearly tripled to $4.0 million from $1.4 million. Direct-to-consumer sales, the largest segment, rose to $18.4 million from $16.4 million. Licensing grew to $12.6 million from $12.0 million.

Playboy has a senior secured credit facility, and the filing notes the company has had significant operating and net losses since it went public in 2021. It also expects its capital spending in 2026 to be largely in line with 2025.

The move to Miami Beach

Playboy announced in August 2025 that it would move its headquarters from Los Angeles to Miami Beach. Its 10-Q says it leased about 20,169 square feet in a Miami Beach office building from RK Rivani LLC. It later changed the lease start date to Jan. 1, 2027, with the lease running through Nov. 30, 2037. The company’s fixed payment obligation under that lease is about $25.0 million. In May 2026 it leased another 5,696 square feet on the same floor. The Herald reported the offices are at 1691 Michigan Ave., near Lincoln Road.

The Herald also reported that Miami Beach initially approved $200,000 in economic development incentives for the first year of Playboy’s contract but had not paid any of it because the company had not yet reached the required hiring level. Miami Beach’s economic development director told Miami Today this week that the city has about $4 billion in development projects and is courting financial, technology and creative firms. For more South Florida and national business news, see our coverage of Western Union’s collapsed deal for Miami-based Intermex and how Doral is preparing for the G20 summit in Miami.

What Playboy’s CEO said

“The new club will be a foundational piece of our hospitality strategy,” Playboy Chief Executive Ben Kohn said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call, as quoted by Bisnow. He said Playboy would stick with its “asset-light business model,” with the brand serving as the foundation for licensing, media and hospitality. “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,” Kohn said, according to Bisnow.

Sources

• Playboy, Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026 (SEC)
• Purchase and Sale Agreement for the Freehand Miami, Exhibit 10.2, dated Nov. 2, 2026 (SEC)
• Bisnow: “Playboy To Buy Hotel For New Club Ahead Of HQ Move,” Nov. 9, 2026
• Miami Herald: “Playboy just bought a Miami Beach hotel and is bringing back a club,” Nov. 14, 2026
• Miami Today: “Wave of financial firms moving to Miami Beach,” Nov. 11, 2026
• Beyond Square Footage: “The Property Decision Behind Freehand Miami”