Playboy has signed a $12.5 million deal to buy the Freehand Miami, the Miami Beach hotel, and plans to convert it into a private members’ club, according to The Real Deal, which reported the news Monday, Nov. 9.
The move puts the future of the Broken Shaker, the poolside cocktail bar that has operated at the property for nearly 15 years, in question. A purchase agreement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires the hotel’s owner to end its current bar agreement by the time the sale closes. Playboy said the sale is scheduled to close by Dec. 15. Whether the bar serves its last drink by then or continues under a new arrangement has not been determined.
On Playboy’s Nov. 5 earnings call, CEO Ben Kohn named Think Hospitality as the proposed club operator and Infinity Collective as the proposed developer. Kohn did not say what either company would do with the bar.
The Shaker started in 2012 as a six-month pop-up at the old Indian Creek Hotel and became a permanent fixture after the property was renamed the Freehand. It gained national attention when Tales of the Cocktail named it Best American Hotel Bar in 2015, and it later opened locations in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Several former bartenders went on to open well-known Miami bars and beverage businesses.
The bar was sold to Generator in 2024, and New York’s Authentic Hospitality took over operations that year. As of Nov. 11, the bar’s website still listed regular service Thursday through Sunday at the Freehand. The Broken Shaker’s press team did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
