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In 1922 the University of Pennsylvania signed a 20-year lease for a space to house its nascent New York alumni dub. Then the Depression hit, the property was sold and the club was booted out.
In June the Penn Club opened the doors to the first permanent home it's had since then: a retrofitted $25 million, 15-story townhouse at 30 W. 44th St., on clubhouse row.
But the timing of the new Penn Club could turn out to be as ill-fated as the first.
Membership in the city's private clubs has been on a steady decline over the last two decades, and the drop has accelerated in the past few years. The shifting job base in the city and tough economic times have caused members to quit their clubs in cloves. Most devastating is that even loyal members are frequenting their clubs much less often.
Club managers fear the situation is only going to worsen as the impact of the loss of the tax deduction for club memberships sinks in this year.
"What we are seeing now compared with three years ago is a reduction in new member sign-ups and a decline in overall spending as well," says John Fox, director at PKF Consulting Inc., who consults private clubs. "There's no question that clubs today have to manage their businesses more carefully and look closely at all of their operations."
In its most recent annual survey of private city clubs, PKF found that total revenues fell 1.7% in 1992, compared with the prior year. The biggest decrease came in room revenues, which dropped 6.7%. Memberships in East Coast city...