Michael Shvo brings elite Core Club to Fifth Avenue

Private club for the uber rich will move out of its space at 60 East 55th Street next year, per sources

A Manhattan power club is coming to SHVO’s 711 Fifth Avenue.

Core Club has inked a 20-year lease to take up 60,000 square feet across four floors at the former Coca-Cola building, according to people familiar with the matter.

The elite members-only club is expected to arrive in Shvo’s building late next year after outgrowing its 32,000-square-foot space at 60 East 55th Street. Talks with SHVO began in January 2020, the people said.

The tenant is a big get for Michael Shvo’s firm.

With locations in New York and Milan, the Core Club has served as a private community for the uber rich since it opened in 2005. Its founding members include Vornado Realty Trust’s Steven Roth, Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman and top executives from various other industries. The New York Times reported in 2011 that the club commanded a $50,000 initiation fee and $15,000 in annual dues.

Its present landlord, Aby Rosen’s RFR Holdings, is locked in a legal battle over 60 East 55th Street, with its special servicer moving to sell the building after Rosen’s firm allegedly defaulted on its debt.

Shvo’s building at 711 Fifth Avenue is also home to the Polo Bar, Ralph Lauren’s renowned restaurant.

The 11-story office and retail building was recently renovated under the direction of architect Peter Marino. It was owned by the Coca-Cola Company from 1983 until 2019, when it went into contract with Nightingale Properties, Ashkenazy Acquisitions and Wafra, a subsidiary of a Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund, for $907 million.

But a few months later, Shvo and his former business partner, Serdar Bilgili, purchased the building for $937 million. The pair was backed by Deutsche Finance and German pension fund BVK. In March 2020, Shvo secured a $545 million loan from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to refinance the building.

The property was originally designed by Bethlehem Engineering Corporation and completed in 1927.