Vroom to Move – Manhattan’s Classic Car Club finds a new home in Hell’s Kitchen

There will no longer be a city toll on 11th Avenue, but it will soon be increased as the Classic Car Club moves to a new home.

The vintage cars will be transported from Pier 76 in Hudson River Park to 645 11th Avenue (corner of W47th St), a space that used to be a Toyota showroom and a street historically known as a paradise for car dealers.

And it’s a long-term parking lot: As the Commercial Observer first reported, the club’s owners have signed a 20-year lease for a 5,577-square-meter space in the Bram Auto Group building.

“We’re excited to move to the east side of 12th Avenue and further into the neighborhood,” co-founder Michael Prichinello told us.

The cars themselves may be a car nut’s dream, but good luck trying to move them anywhere — on 11th Avenue, at least — at more than 2 mph on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, when the road is usually heavy with traffic (as it is at the time of this writing).

The exclusive, members-only club gives New Yorkers the opportunity to try out vintage cars such as a McLaren 57OS, a Lamborghini Huracan or a 1966 Ford GT, according to Bloomberg.

The Classic Car Club’s new location is next to the Ink48 Hotel, the former home of The Press Lounge, a rooftop bar famous for its panoramic views, and PRINT, a farm-to-table restaurant, both of which closed in January due to economic difficulties.

In 2016, the club moved from a smaller location in SoHo to the former NYPD stables at Pier 76 – but in 2021, with four years left on its lease, it faced eviction when former Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to convert the pier into a public park.

The club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a “defensive move” to preserve its West Side Pier space – a warehouse with huge windows overlooking the Hudson River that had been renovated for $6 million – and continues to operate from there.

The Classic Car Club was founded in London in 2005. In addition to vintage cars, its new location also offers parking spaces for the cars, co-working and meeting rooms, and dining rooms.

“Given the uniqueness and one-of-a-kind experience that the Classic Car Club offers its members and the diverse user groups it requires as occupiers, our main objective was to find the right solution – not just from a physical perspective, but with an owner who understands the exceptional opportunities the club offers his property,” said Peter Gross of commercial real estate firm Avison Young, which brokered the deal.

The strip of 11th Avenue surrounding the club’s new home is something of a mecca for car enthusiasts, with a Cadillac dealership across the street and Lexus of Manhattan and Toyota of Manhattan on the next block. Once described as the “Siberia” of NYC, a whole host of non-automotive activity has also developed in recent years, with the arrival of Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine and the construction of multifamily housing.