Spa Specials
Luxury living has never felt better.
Sometimes the best vacation is spent relaxing at home. That will certainly be the case for residents of a new condo community being built in Singer Island, Fla. Estee Lauder Co.’s Aveda Corp., known for its destination spas and botanical beauty products, is launching its first residential spa community. The $500 million oceanfront property will offer 195 condo units (priced from $1.1 million to $5 million) and 96 hotel rooms, plus complete spa facilities to include in-house treatments, yoga therapy, homeopathic consultation, therapeutic massages, and more. “Today’s lifestyle has improved to the point where people are really looking for what we call personalized luxury with integrated wellness in a day-to-day life, not just when they go on vacation,” says Dilip Barot, president of Amrit Development, which is developing the Florida property called Amrit Resort and Residences. The target audience? Wealthy individuals who want to emulate the lifestyle of the mega-rich, says Barot. While these people can’t afford a $10 million-plus oceanfront home, for $1.5 million (plus monthly condo dues and a la carte spa treatments), they can get oceanfront views plus all the lifestyle amenities of the rich and famous, he explains.
Barot plans to partner with Aveda to develop similar residential spa communities throughout the U.S. and the world. Others too are jumping on board with the concept. SpaFinder.com, a spa locator and informational Web site, has about 100 residential spa properties in its database compared to about 25 in 2005. A big leader in the trend: spa and wellness pioneer Canyon Ranch, which recently introduced its hotel-residence-wellness center concept dubbed Canyon Ranch Living. The first project is under construction in Miami Beach, Fla., and will open in 2007.
–Rachel Z. Azoff