A still from the new NBC show based on the Playboy Club of the 1960s (NBC)
Playboy is planning to resurrect Chicago's Playboy Club only blocks from where the original one opened in the 1960s, Crain's Chicago Business reported Monday.
Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said the company is "in the final stages of selecting a site" in the Windy City and is reportedly pursuing a mansion near Chicago's north side, where the Il Mulino restaurant now operates, to bring back the legendary hotspot that shut down twenty years ago.
The new club, complete with scantily-clad Playboy Bunnies, could be open by early 2012, Flanders added.
The Playboy empire, founded by Hugh Hefner, was forced to close its chain of cocktail lounges in 1991 due to slumping profits but the company began reopening them in 2006 with locations in Las Vegas, London, Macau and Cancun.
New franchising deals to operate the establishments could provide much needed capital to the struggling men's entertainment company.
NBC will be paying homage to the Chicago Playboy Club during its heyday in a new series starring actress Amber Heard and LeAnn Rimes' husband Eddie Cibrian. "The Playboy Club" will premiere September 19.
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