Aman New York’s Private Club: The Most Expensive Hideout in Midtown

At the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, inside a 1921 office tower, sits the most expensive private club in New York. Joining costs $200,000 before the first drink. Here is what the Aman Club actually is, what the money buys, and why the price is the point.

The Aman Club at a glance

The Crown Building has had many lives since 1921. It has been an office tower, a headquarters and a landmark of the Fifth Avenue skyline. In 2015, Vlad Doronin bought its office portion for $475 million, partnering at first with developer Michael Shvo, according to OKO Group. He turned it into Aman’s first New York hotel, a set of residences on the upper floors and, inside both, a club that costs more to join than most Americans’ homes.

The project became famous for its price tag before it opened. Doronin said the original $300 million budget grew to almost $1.45 billion because of the pandemic and supply-chain problems, according to Lifestyle Asia, citing Bloomberg. A building that expensive needs some very loyal customers. The Aman Club is how it finds them.

How much does the Aman Club cost?

The Aman Club costs $200,000 to join and $15,000 a year in dues, according to the South China Morning Post. That makes it the most expensive private club in New York by a wide margin. By comparison, Soho House New York starts at about $3,800 a year, and Zero Bond’s dues run from $2,750 to $4,400.

Put another way, the Aman initiation fee would pay for about 50 years of a Soho House membership. Members are not paying for more of the same thing. They are paying for a different thing entirely.

What does an Aman Club membership include?

An Aman Club membership includes access to members-only spaces inside Aman New York, including a cigar lounge and a private wine library that even guests in the hotel’s corner suites cannot enter, according to Lifestyle Asia. Members also use the hotel’s three-floor, 25,000-square-foot wellness center, with an indoor pool, two spa houses and a cryotherapy chamber.

Those are the features. The real product is subtraction. In a city of eight million people, the Aman Club offers a room where almost nobody else can be. The cigar lounge is lovely, but its main amenity is the list of people who are not in it. It is the same logic as first class on a plane: the seat is better, but what you really pay for is who is not sitting next to you.

Why does the Aman Club cost $200,000?

The Aman Club costs $200,000 because the fee itself is the filter. At that price, the membership limits itself to people for whom $200,000 is a manageable decision, which guarantees privacy and a peer group without a long committee process. It also helps pay for one of the most expensive hotel projects in Manhattan history.

Most clubs filter with committees, sponsors and waitlists. The Aman Club filters with arithmetic. That is efficient, and a little brutal: there is no essay to write, no sponsor to charm, just a number most people will never reach. Our story on how to get into New York’s private clubs shows how differently the other rooms decide.

The residences and the club

The club and the apartments upstairs work as a pair. Owners of Aman New York’s residences are invited to become Aman Club “Founders,” according to Lifestyle Asia. All 22 residences have sold. The last, Unit 25A, sold for $66 million, below its $79 million asking price, and Doronin bought the crown penthouse himself for $135 million, according to OKO Group.

Resales have been strong, too. Penthouse 23A resold for $64 million in 2024, more than $10,000 a square foot, according to The Real Deal. The club helps sell the apartments, and the apartments help fill the club. That loop is why developers across Manhattan are building clubs into their projects. Our story on the developers behind the club boom follows the trend.

Aman versus Casa Cipriani

The obvious comparison is Casa Cipriani, the club inside the restored Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of Manhattan. Both pair a hotel with a members’ club, and both sell a sense of old-world calm. The difference is scale and price. Casa Cipriani has 47 rooms and costs a fraction of Aman to join. Aman is quieter, newer and more expensive, built for members who would rather not be seen at all.

Read our profile of Casa Cipriani for the other side of the comparison.

What $200,000 cannot buy

For all its marble and cryotherapy, the Aman Club faces the same question as every other club in Manhattan: who is in the room? A fee can guarantee wealth. It cannot guarantee good company, warmth or the kind of friendships that make members actually show up on a Tuesday.

The members who get the most from Aman are probably the ones who would be happy anywhere, and who use the quiet to have conversations they cannot have elsewhere. That is the lesson of the city’s most expensive room: privacy is worth paying for only if you have someone worth being private with. For the full money story, read why the rich pay for private clubs and our guide to the velvet rope wars.

Frequently asked questions

How much are the apartments at Aman New York?
Aman New York’s 22 residences have sold out. Penthouse 23A resold in 2024 for $64 million, more than $10,000 a square foot, according to The Real Deal. Building amenities include a three-story spa, a fitness center, two restaurants and an indoor pool.

When did Aman New York open?
Aman New York officially opened on August 2, 2022, in the restored 1921 Crown Building at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, with 83 suites. Premier suites started at about $3,200 a night, according to Bloomberg, as reported by Lifestyle Asia.

Who owns the Crown Building?
Vlad Doronin, chairman of Aman, bought the office portion of the Crown Building in 2015 for $475 million, at first in partnership with Michael Shvo, according to OKO Group. Doronin developed Aman New York there and bought its crown penthouse for $135 million.

Sources

• South China Morning Post: Inside the Aman Club
• Lifestyle Asia: Aman New York
• OKO Group: Aman New York officially sold out
• The Real Deal: Aman New York snags $64M resale
• NYCEDC: Renovation transforms the Battery Maritime Building
• The Pricer: How much does Soho House membership cost?
• Luxe Digital: Zero Bond membership cost