Peebles lists historic Bath Club in Miami Beach, could fetch more than $25M

The Peebles Corporation is listing the historic Bath Club building in Miami Beach, once a private members club that catered to former U.S President Herbert Hoover.

The Bath Club, at 5937 Collins Avenue, hit the market this week and could sell for more than $25 million, listing broker Gerard Yetming said. Yetming, of Colliers International South Florida, is listing the property with Irving Padron of Engel & Völkers. The five-acre property includes the 15,000-square-foot club house, built in 1937, a fitness center, a commercial kitchen, 60 cabanas, on-site parking, and courtyard.

Don Peebles said he’s selling the club because the company isn’t in the event venue business. “We’ve spent a considerable amount of time learning that business and we’re not maximizing the club’s full potential,” he said.

“Right now, the real estate is operated as an event venue primarily, [for] corporate events and weddings, but the club historically has been a private members club,” Yetming said. The average event costs about $13,500 a night, and food and drink service can run until 5 a.m.

“We think it will have international appeal,” Yetming said. “It’s going to go to developers who may want to keep this as a private club, to a corporate audience … to club operators, the high-end luxury market. Maybe to a high-net worth individuals’ group that wants to have a presence in Miami Beach.”

Peebles purchased the property for about $10 million in 2000, and said he later purchased the rights to the club. The firm redeveloped a portion of the property into 107 condos and six oceanfront villas, which were completed in 2006. The original clubhouse buildings were preserved.

Condo owners have access to shared amenities including the pool and hot tubs, spa and tennis courts, along with 500 feet of beachfront.

Yetming and Padron worked with Peebles when he sold the site of the planned Bath Club Estates for $38.5 million in October of 2015. China City Construction Company and American Da Tang Group bought the nearly 1 acre of land, but have yet to develop it.

Peebles is focusing on projects the company has in the New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. markets. Next up is the West Coast, but he said he’ll be back in South Florida.

The Bath Club, he said, is the oldest social club in the Southeastern U.S., and there’s “nothing else like it in Miami, and frankly in South Florida,” adding, “Even at Mar-a-Lago, you have to cross the street to get to the ocean.”