To appeal to wealthy buyers who want healthy lifestyles, luxury real estate developers in New York, Los Angeles and Miami are meticulously curating holistic wellness amenities—getting starchitects, fitness gurus and branded spa chains involved.
At The Greenwich Lane, a residential complex built on the former site of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in the West Village, a full floor of fitness amenities is available to all residents of the complex’s five condominiums and five townhouses, who began moving in in 2015.
The developers signed The Wright Fit to manage their state-of-the-art fitness center, which includes two training studios, a golf simulator, a swimming pool, spa and treatment room. The company is known for functional performance training, an exercise philosophy that emphasizes making body movements more functional and efficient.
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Working with The Wright Fit, interior designer Thomas O’Brien of Aero Studios curated the swimming pool. The 82-foot pool features a vaulted, glass mosaic ceiling, translucent glass walls and a separate hot tub.
"The swimming pool is pivotal to us. We have at least two sales done just because of it," said Michael Rudin, vice president of Rudin Management Company, which has developed The Greenwich Lane along with Global Holdings.
In fact, The Greenwich Lane is only one of the latest New York condominiums to adopt The Wright Fit brand to attract health-conscious buyers.
The company, founded by celebrity trainer Jay Wright in 2007, made its residential building debut at 15 Central Park West and was considered to have contributed to the building’s appeal when it opened in 2008. Now The Wright Fit has a client list that features some of the city’s toniest buildings, including 432 Park Avenue, 56 Leonard, 50 United Nations Plaza and 443 Greenwich.
The Wright Fit has also expanded to the West Coast. Ten Thousand, a new residential building in Los Angeles, features a cantilevered, glass-enclosed Wright Fit-branded fitness center, overlooking Beverly Hills and Downtown Los Angeles. Its Wellness and Performance Program, led by fitness veteran, Lakei Herman, is designed to provide residents with personal training, injury prevention and rehabilitation, nutritional guidance, as well as stress and time management.
In San Francisco, Mr. Wright designed the 7,000-square-foot fitness center at LUMINA, a 656-unit luxury tower soaring above San Francisco Bay. The fitness center is equipped with both yoga and high impact aerobics studios, a 70-foot lap pool and a 20-foot rock climbing wall. The building itself, completed in 2016, is designed by world-renowned Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica in collaboration with Heller Manus, a San Francisco-based architecture firm that has a wide-range of residential portfolio both in the U.S. and China.
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In striking a balance between exercise and relaxation, Miami luxury developers have invested in spas and water features. At Missoni Baia, a waterfront luxury condo tower in the Edgewater neighborhood slated for completion in summer 2020, the residents-only spa, comprising of 2,825 square feet, will be one of the largest spas in Miami. It’s conceived by the designers of Aman Spas, with interiors by New York-based Paris Forino.
Fitness amenities include a 1,700-square-foot gym with 180-degree view of Biscayne Bay views, an Olympic-sized lap pool and an elevated tennis court.
Another new luxury condominium in Miami’s Bal Harbour neighborhood, Oceana Bal Harbour, boasts a world-class spa operated by the WTS International. The members-only spa includes a sauna and steam room, as well as a meditation pavilion for yoga and pilates classes. There is a sparkling pool and a state-of-the-art fitness center overlooking the oceanic horizon through its floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The 240-unit tower also offers residents a private restaurant, Ballerina, run by Philadelphia-based Starr Catering, which will operate in synergy with the spa by offering "eating-conscious" and farm-to-table selections.
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And back in New York, 50 West, a new 64-story condominium in the heart of Downtown Manhattan, which opened earlier this year, has hired husband-and-wife duo Michael and Thea Wittich, fitness gurus and founders of WittichFit, to assemble and staff its fitness amenities.
Designed by architect Helmut Jahn and interior designer Thomas Juul-Hansen, the tower has four full floors dedicated to fitness and wellness, including state-of-the-art training facilities, spin and yoga studios, a golf simulator, a subterranean ‘Water Club’ equipped with a 60-foot lap pool, a hot tub, a sauna and steam room, spa and an entertainment floor.
"What’s going to set us apart is how the space is used," Mrs. Wittich said. "We strive to provide a sense of community through a range of programs, including yoga for children or nutrition classes by local farmers."