One of Orlando’s oldest social organizations, the University Club (Website), has just announced that it will be closing after almost 100 years.
The members-only University Club was founded in downtown Orlando in 1926. The invitation-only club sold its original building at 125 E. Pine Street [GMap] to a developer back in 2015, which replaced it with the new Modera Central. As part of the deal, they were gifted a new 33,000 SF clubhouse in 2019, complete with a full-service dining room and bar, a kitchen, flexible meeting space, basketball, racquetball and squash courts, and a ground-floor fitness facility.
See our tour of the men’s changing rooms when the new club opened here.
A high cost of membership, an aging membership base, and a pause in downtown office workers post-pandemic led to a steep decline in the club’s membership according to former University Club members – who asked to remain anonymous. That decline in memberships ultimately led to the club looking to pursue refinancing back in May 2023, which allegedly fell through, though we have been unable to connect with University Club management to confirm.
The following message was issued to members by University Club management and shares that the last date of operations for the downtown facility will be September 15, 2023.
