A New Jersey mayor’s recent announcement that the once-glamorous Playboy Club property in Sussex County has been sold drew plenty of attention, but another local official is cautioning that the deal is not finalized.
Vernon Township Council President Patrick Rizzuto said the council is aware of “ongoing discussions” between a “potential buyer” and Metairie Corporation, the current owner of the former Playboy Club property in Vernon that has been empty for years.
“As soon as we are advised of conclusive results we will be pleased to make further comment,” Rizzuto told NJ Advance Media.
Rizzuto did not name the potential buyer for the property.
The attorney for Metairie Corporation, the owner of the building, declined to comment Monday.
Vernon Mayor Anthony Rossi posted on Facebook last month that the former Playboy Club had sold. In separate Facebook posts on March 14 and March 29, the mayor said he met with the new owner of the building, 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 in his March 14 Facebook post.
However, Rossi later said 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 gentleman did come in. He did say he’s the titled owner,” Rossi told NJ Advance Media on Thursday regarding the meeting in his office March 11. He did not name the man.
In a followup post on his Facebook account on Friday, Rossi posted an image of a five-sentence email dated March 13, with the sender’s name redacted.
“Dear Mayor, Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. As the new owner of the Legends property I want to ensure you that this is a very important project for me to be successful. I appreciate your assistance,” the email said.
Rossi did not immediately respond to a request to comment Monday.
A sale of the 600-room building would include resolving several issues with the township, the mayor said.
“The Legend property is very complex with many open tax liens, timeshare owners, etc. This sale will take us weeks to prepare,” Rossi said on Facebook.
This is not the first time that a sale of the building appeared imminent.
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. A year earlier, then-Mayor Harry Shortway talked about the possibility of a new hotel, satellite campus for a college or senior housing on the property.
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.
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. All of the renters left by April 2018 after safety concerns were raised about the building.
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.
Stories by Rob Jennings
Please subscribe now and support the local journalism you rely on and trust.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices