Wednesday, February 02, 2000
Clubs make deals happen
Business people dine, socialize
BY CLIFF PEALE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Marge Schott was selling her controlling stake in the Cincinnati Reds last year and invited her limited partners to town to hash out the details, she chose a perfectly natural meeting place: the Queen City Club on Fourth Street.
In a private dining room, Mrs. Schott joined Carl Lindner and the other partners in the high-stakes negotiations that produced the city's biggest business deal of 1999.
The location was no surprise. The Queen City Club's privacy, cozy atmosphere and exclusive membership list have made it a favorite of the city's corporate chieftains for generations.
“A lot goes on there, an awful lot,” said Phil Cox, a member of the Queen City Club and president of Cox Financial Corp.
But with younger members of his firm on his mind, Mr. Cox also has joined the Bankers Club overlooking Fountain Square and the Metropolitan Club in Covington. He said he socializes at those two clubs more, contrasting with the business lunches he frequents at the Queen City Club.
He also encourages employees to use the memberships, he said.
“When you add younger people to your business, it starts them out on the right foot as to how the business and social aspects work here,” he said.
Cox Financial is not alone. As the business community expands to include more women and minorities and newer types of high-tech companies, for-profit clubs like the Bankers Club and the Metropolitan Club have thrived.
They still are available only to members. But with lower membership fees in the reach of more people and no requirement to be “invited” by a selection committee, the for-profit clubs clearly have made business perks that used to be exclusive available to more people.
The newer private busi ness clubs not only provide a place for business lunches, but organize social activities and even family get-togethers.
“We want high-caliber people, but we're trying to be inclusive,” said Dan Fay, the Commonwealth Hotels executive who is president of the Metropolitan Club atop the RiverCenter office tower in Covington.
“We're trying to go after women who might not have been well-served at some of the clubs, and we're trying to go after minorities,” he said. “There's no better place to entertain and show somebody the city.”
The Metropolitan Club's roster includes about 125 women among its 1,200 members. The initiation fee ranges from $200 to $800, with monthly dues ranging from $47 to $93. Its staff includes a full-time program director.
“We're trying to keep the members involved,” said Gordon Snyder, vice president.
In a further sign of the priorities of the new breed of for-profit clubs, Mr. Fay and co-owner William Butler of Corporex Cos. last year donated about three-quarters of the stock in the club to three charities.
The club cost $1.6 million to build in 1991 and earned a profit last year, Mr. Fay said.
Joe O'Donnell, general manager of the 54-year-old Bankers Club, which is atop the Fifth Third Tower downtown, said his club has similar growth priorities.
“You can't just sit back and let these things take care of themselves,” he said.
The Bankers Club is owned by Dallas-based Club Corp. USA Inc. It collected revenue of about $3 million last year and earned a profit, Mr. O'Donnell said.
Officials of the Queen City Club could not be reached for comment. Just across Broadway is the University Club, which was founded in 1879 and is also owned by its membership, General Manager Mark Ross said.
The club includes squash courts and formal and casual dining. The club has about 685 members, by invitation only, Mr. Ross said.
Dudley Taft, president of Taft Broadcasting Co., who has been a member of the Queen City Club for years, called it “really just a convenient business tool” because of its surface parking lot and easy access.
But even that venerable club has made changes, including an informal dining room downstairs, he said. That has changed the long-held image of a stuffy club where women were not allowed in certain places and coats and ties were required.
“I think a lot of clubs are trying to change that stuff,” Mr. Taft said. “There's no question they're trying to broaden their membership.”
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