Naples private clubs multiply as luxury demand grows

Some feel the Naples area already is approaching its limit of members-only businesses — which continue to increase in number — while others believe the local demographic growth of luxury lifestyles will usher in additional opportunities for this hospitality niche around common purposes, such as golf, beach, wellness, business and social activities.

Because of growing wealth, the proliferation of private clubs transcends local trends.

“This is global,” says longtime Naples entrepreneur Phil McCabe, who is developing The Carnelian hotel and its exclusive Sterling’s Club in Naples with his sons, Joseph and Philip. “It’s just begun.”

Naples is seeing just the beginning for private clubs, said Veljko Pavicevic, who co-owns Butcher Private, an exclusive members-only business club with an upscale restaurant, lounge and event space in North Naples. Private member clubs are popular across the nation and around the globe, said Pavicevic, who travels internationally with his wife and business partner Corinne Ryan.

“Naples is just 1%. This is quite common,” he says. “If you think about New York City, the club scene has been around for the last 30 years; if you take London, 200 years.”

The McCabes are members of The Club at Casa Cipriani, a private members’ club within a luxury hotel in New York City, where they have a home.

“It’s one of the most famous clubs in the world,” McCabe says. “It contributed to our decision-making of building [The Carnelian].”

The McCabes also have observed the private club scene in London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other big cities. “It’s a big deal,” McCabe says.

Since founding Paraíso Beach Club, a three-story clubhouse under construction along the Gulf next to LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort on Vanderbilt Beach in North Naples, David Tingley has heard from folks from all over the country who are also doing private clubs. “I’ve actually seen the trend nationwide,” says Tingley, general partner and executive officer of Paraíso Beach Club LLC.

“It’s interesting, because as a real estate developer or investor you usually try to find the best property and the biggest, highest and best return. Part of that is immediate return, but also it ties into long-term holding,” he says. “And I would say this is attributable to all private clubs. You’re usually looking for that affluent membership in an affluent area, sometimes the best appreciation values and stabilized income.”

Local demand

Because of the wealth here, Naples is on the leading edge of these amenities, said McCabe, who significantly studied local demographics and the depth of the market before instigating his unique hotel/club collaboration, which is targeted to open by Christmas 2027.

“For instance, with these private golf clubs, we’ve always been ahead of the curve in Naples,” he says. “We have 17,000 snowbirds who have a net worth of $10 million or greater in Naples. A golf club only needs 250 to 300 members, maybe 300 max.”

As upper-tier growth continues to outpace all other economic levels, the Naples commercial real estate price point practically demands a luxury use for a return on investment, Pavicevic said.

Christopher Shucart, who co-owns Prime Social Reserve, which launched a year ago on Fifth Avenue South, agrees that the luxury market segment is growing in Naples — especially along the coast with the recent development of luxury condominiums, such as The Ritz-Carlton Residences Naples, Rosewood Residences and Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort.

“I think the gap has widened for sure in Naples,” Shucart says. “You look west of 41, it’s become almost more seasonal because people are not in primary homes. They’ve got second and third and fourth homes.”

Pavicevic realized his affluent guests at Sails Restaurant in Naples needed a private space, so he created Butcher Private, where everything is bespoke for its members, or “champion business Olympians” as he refers to them.

“Each and every one of these members are treated as they’re the owners because we feel about them that they are the investors but they never ask for any equity,” he says. “It’s a private house with a shared ownership that has everything of the best of the best — impeccable service and a butler experience. It can be used any day, every day when someone special is coming into town. It’s the most private and elite, exclusive place in the state of Florida. Or, it can be also used for events. A lot of our members love throwing events. All of them are in the world of business, either founders or CEOs or executives of some of the largest companies in the world, and they needed a place like that in Naples. These individuals want privacy, and they don’t want to go into places where they are risking conflict. That’s why we built Butcher.”

In doing preliminary market research for Paraíso Beach Club, Tingley and his team found a huge demand for a local beach club.

“We found that within a 17-minute drive to our location there are over 51,000 homes or condos that are over $1.5 million in value and don’t have a beach club,” Tingley says. “So, we could almost sell three of these if we could get the land.”

Return on investment

When Tingley began planning Paraíso Beach Club about four years ago, he didn’t realize there was a big push for private clubs. He believes the COVID-19 pandemic may have played a role in the growth of private ventures because of limited options then. The established baby boomer generation and recent rise of divisive national politics also could have played roles, he said.

“I do know from a commercial lending standpoint, it’s become one of the hottest spaces for banks and investors to put dollars into,” Tingley says. “The final model and probably the primary model that drove me was their lucrative returns, and there’s stability unlike other commercial properties where you may build a hotel or a restaurant and hope that they will come. You offset a little bit of the risk with the stability of membership fees initially and then annual dues. From an investor’s standpoint, you have that stability.”

Paraíso’s annual dues are $10,500 per household, and membership fees have increased since it broke ground this year. “We started at $115,000. We’re now at $150,000,” Tingley says. “More than likely, we’ll be going up as season comes into play. We’re almost 50% sold out already.”

Paraíso has a unique model in which 70% of the initial membership fee is refundable to members who leave the club.

Sterling’s initiation fee for individuals is $100,000 with an annual fee of $10,000; and a dual membership initiation fee of $150,000 with an annual fee of $15,000. The exclusive club promises multiple restaurants, lounges, a jazz club and health and wellness amenities with a sixth-floor view of the Gulf.

“We are going to be able to deliver to our members the service, the quality, the atmosphere and the views,” McCabe says.

Prime Social Reserve has found great success in its execution, said Shucart, who partners on the local venture with Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which also operates Ocean Prime and Del Mar restaurants on Fifth.

“The Cameron Mitchell Restaurant team has hospitality in their DNA,” he says.

Prime Social Reserve defines its concept as a preferred access program for VIPs instead of a club with members. “Our VIPs are definitely defined as someone who has paid a fee to become a preferred access participant,” Shucart says. “The whole concept is a great fit for Fifth Avenue, and it’s designed for less intensity and higher quality and longer duration of dining and increased hospitality.”

Prime Social already capped out on availability for additional VIPs and the initiation fee has increased from the initial pre-opening pricing, said Shucart, while not revealing specific figures.

“We are on a waitlist,” he says. “We want to make sure we over-deliver and don’t under-promise on the hospitality and the whole experience.”

Shucart feels that good operators who are able to exceed expectations will be successful.

“[Prime Social] has exceeded my expectations, for sure,” Shucart says. “I think we hit a grand slam.”

With other local programs coming online within the next year, Shucart wants Prime Social to stay relevant and continue to exceed expectations. “It’s a race to who’s best in class,” he says.

Joining the club

The prestigious Port Royal Club is set to reopen this fall in Old Naples with a new, expanded beachfront clubhouse after being out of commission for four years since Hurricane Ian’s destruction. With membership open to owners of residences in the upscale Port Royal neighborhood, the club on Gordon Drive offers The Café, the Sunset Bar, a la carte and casual dining, a ballroom, a pool and sundeck cabanas, a fitness center and spa, tennis courts, a pro shop and a private beach area on the Gulf.

“When it opens, it’s going to be one of the finest clubs in the United States,” said Rebecca Maddox, who opened The Maddox members-only venue a few years ago on Bayshore Drive.

Nearby in East Naples, a public golf course will be converted to a private 18-hole golf club with six cottages when The Lantern Club takes over Hibiscus Golf Club next year on Rattlesnake Hammock Road. Kinsale Golf Club, another exclusive club not connected to a specific residential community or country club, recently teed off on more than 170 acres of previously undeveloped land on the northeast corner of Vanderbilt Drive and Wiggins Pass Road in North Naples.

Some private clubs are even planned in far-flung remote areas east of Golden Gate Estates. Collier Rod & Gun Club is being developed by Barron Collier Companies at State Road 29 and Oil Well Road, while the Hyper Club racecar community is proposed on the former auto test track property just north of Alligator Alley in rural Collier County.

Each of the various local programs are created differently with their own benefits and characteristics, Shucart said. “I think it all depends on the location. I think it depends on the operator. And, I think it depends on the concept,” he says. “I think not all operations are created equal.”

Over the top

Maddox thinks Naples has too many private clubs. She founded one of the first in recent years, launching her namesake members-only social venue with $18,000 annual dues for couples.

“I would say the trend is exaggerated in Naples more than it is nationwide. We just overdo everything,” Maddox says. “Most of the private clubs are targeted at the same people. I see it as an hourglass. You have to keep putting new members in because so many current members are falling out the bottom.”

Maddox questions the business model, believing some clubs will fail once the Port Royal Club gets reopened. The Maddox, which caters to a growing need for local event spaces, has started to reach out to different target markets to avoid competing for the same members of other local clubs.

“We’ve pivoted a little bit because, candidly, I don’t have the funds to compete with a Prime Social and Cameron Mitchell. It’s a huge corporation, and they have to spend a ton of money,” Maddox says. “We’re looking more at young professionals, people who used to hang out at Starbucks with their laptop because they were remote workers who are now making a couple of hundred thousand but still want to socialize and be around people but they can’t afford $80,000 for the Sterling or the Butcher or whatever — and I’m just pulling that number out of the air.

“We’re a private club, we’re an event space, we’re a wine shop, we’re a wine bar, we’re a wine club, we’re a restaurant. Part of what makes us work is the diversification of how many different things are here.”

Paraíso Beach Club, as with most private clubs, fills a niche for affluent membership in an affluent area, providing a service and sanctuary to a captive audience with discretionary income.

The social aspect of the club also is an integral factor, Tingley said.

“Socialization is the absolute No. 1 reason people want to congregate together,” he says. “When they congregate together, sometimes they want to be around like-minded people. Sometimes, whether we like it or not, the affluence of the people sometimes drives what they have in common interest and it also provides a network, a social setting for business opportunity just as a golf club or any of those would.”

Paraíso already is planning additional locations on both coasts of Florida.

“The demand is almost through the roof,” Tingley says. “We’re looking at Palm Beach next, at different properties. We’re also looking at Sarasota. We actually developed our model to be duplicated, so we own all of our own architecture and our design, all the branding rights and the name Paraíso Beach Club is owned by us.”

More to offer

Each club offers something unique and has different reasons to form a community, Pavicevic said.

“We form community to create value for individuals who are well traveled and love life. They have an appreciation for excellence, for [the] impeccable,” he says. “All of this stems from our highest level followers of the Sails Restaurant. That’s really where that community was built and they were invited into Butcher Private.”

To provide a glimpse to the general public for a price, The Cellar at Butcher Private recently began as a founding members room within Butcher. It features four tables in a cellar-like wine room and offers an intimate dining experience with a 12-course tasting menu for only four reservations per night at $500 per person.

“We are booked the next six months,” Pavicevic says. “Because it’s four tables, four days, 16 reservations a week. That’s it.”

Some initially scoffed at the lofty per-person membership fees required for Butcher Private, but the business model has taken on a visionary vibe in hindsight.

“We need to look to the future. Naysayers cannot stop Naples,” Pavicevic says. “Naples is on fire.”

Sterling’s has 36 scheduled member events this season ahead of its opening near the end of next year. The McCabes are building excitement as their hotel rises on the site of a former bowling alley. They are setting the stage for a lofty club scene.

“Naples is going to continue to add to that demographic,” McCabe says. “Has it peaked? No. Not based on our sales. We’re in a good position in Naples, Florida.”