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You’ve put down the deposit on your luxury Manhattan apartment. You’ve collected your keys and changed your mailing address. Now, don’t forget to jump off the 25ft pole in the communal garden and attend the sex classes.
A condominium in Manhattan is aiming to replicate the spa experience full-time. Miraval Resorts, which runs a spa in Tucson, Arizona, thinks that its cash-rich, time-poor customers need healthy eating plans, yoga classes and lifestyle coaches all year round – and without having to schlep thousands of miles.
The company is the latest to gamble on the “spadominium” concept, which involves cloning the elements of a spa holiday and reproducing them in domestic urban environments. The offspring of this real-estate-meets-Reiki love-in is Miraval Living, a block of 365 luxury flats on the Upper East Side complete with residents-only gym, Olympic-sized swimming pool, personal advisers, relationship counsellors, nutritionists, meditation room and wholefoods café. From 7am to 9pm, you can meet your neighbours at activities such as powerflow yoga, aqua aerobics and a book club.
One of the most distinctive elements of the Tucson retreat is the Quantum Leap, billed as a “signature challenge course”. Guests are invited to strap on a harness, scale a 25ft pole and leap off. A similar pole is being installed in the garden at Miraval Living in New York, although hurling oneself from it is not a prerequisite of residency. “Quantum Leap symbolises pushing your personal limits and about trusting the group you’re with,” says Tara Mullins, a Miraval publicity officer who has done the jump and who is giving me a tour of the sumptuous show flats. “Some people only get as far as putting the harness on, or they climb up but don’t jump.” The idea is to let go – literally – of your fears.
Another Tucson import will be the Equine Experience, which involves cleaning a horse’s hooves. Horses are, apparently, sensitive animals who refuse to lift their hooves to stressed-out human beings. The purveyor of this workshop, Wyatt Webb – who describes himself as “a man of few words and many truths” – has penned a book entitled It’s Not About The Horse. Webb will take residents to stables in New York to commune with Dobbin.
The flats are marketed at deep-pocketed fortysomething Manhattanites, the main demographic of the Tucson retreat. The walnut-walled apartments, with wraparound panoramic views, are being flogged under the slogan “Can one choice change everything?”
That choice doesn’t come cheap: studios start at $650,000 and the three-bedroom flats cost $3.5 million. The monthly service charge varies between $1,200 and $6,000 and brings an as-yet-unspecified spa entitlement. The block boasts the biggest private garden in New York. Ms Mullins would not disclose how many had been sold but said there are still some available. She says: “This is not about getting a facial and a massage every day. It’s about getting your balance back and giving the luxury of time.
“Every resident will be given a Miraval adviser and that person will be trained to help you figure out what’s going to balance your life best. What fitness classes should you choose? What seminars should you go to? What food would be good for you? They’ll have a test kitchen and teach you how to cook healthily.”
Seminars? Ah, yes, the sex classes. The Tucson resort offers a workshop called Partners, Pleasure and Passion, run by husband-and-wife doctors, Lana Holstein and David Taylor. Dr Holstein is a well-known sex therapist and has written the bestseller How to Have Magnificent Sex. The couple plan to offer the course in New York too.
Intriguingly, Ms Mullins says that attendees are given homework: “People have wonderful things to say about the workshop.” The testimonials are, indeed, worth scouting out. “I was able to open up to my ‘goddess’ for the first time,” writes one satisfied client.
While children are banned from the Tucson resort, the New York block is extremely family-friendly. There won’t be a crèche but there will be an activity centre for toddlers offering painting, scrapbooking and clay-making; teenagers can enjoy teen yoga, a “Zen bootcamp”, nutritional and beauty advice, personalised exercise plans, a quiet area for homework and movies round the chlorine-free pool. There will even be classes on etiquette for kids.
If your desire to live the Miraval life borders on the pathological, residency also earns you the ability to get Miraval Cuisine (cooked at the café) delivered to your door from dawn until dusk. Then you can put into practice what you have learnt at the “mindful eating” sessions.
While New Yorkers may welcome extreme spa living, others have their doubts. “Only in America,” laughs Jonathan Hewlett, head of the London region for Savills, the upmarket estate agent, when I ask if wealthy Britons would buy into an apartment block offering sex therapy and parenting classes. “I don’t see London as ready for this. But if it works in New York, everyone else will do it.” Hewlett said, however, that residences with full concierge services – that will book theatre tickets and holidays – were in demand. Two London developments managed by luxury hotel chains, one by Mandarin Oriental and another by Hyatt, were proving particularly popular.
Even Tim Simmons, a development consultant for Hamptons, which is Miraval’s UK agent, admits that: “The US is a bit ahead of the game. I love the concept of having therapists on site, but would it work in Manchester? Probably not. London has the best shot at it – but even here it’s probably too soon to bring in this level of hands-on lifestyle management.”
Tracey Stapleton, who runs a PR company representing spas, pointed out that it would be hard for one wellness centre to cater for the diverse needs of hundreds of residents: “It sounds like a dream lifestyle, but I’m not sure it’s one that I would want. Dedicated spa-goers tend to enjoy going to different spas that they’ve heard about because they offer specific treatments or therapies. And often there’s a different spa for different occasions. If it’s a mother-and-daughter visit, you’re going to need something different from if you were going with a bunch of girlfriends. Some spas specialise in beauty treatments such as facials, while others specialise in health matters, such as treating digestive problems. To have the best therapists in everything on one site is very, very difficult.”
Miraval is not the only company to have spotted the potential for “wellness living”. Canyon Ranch, another company whose flagship spa is in the Arizona desert, is undertaking similar developments in Miami and Chicago. The trend is being underwritten by the demanding, affluent and increasingly fit baby-boomer generation. Some observers have even forecast that spadominiums are the high-end retirement homes of the future. Kevin Kelly, the chairman of Canyon Ranch, forecasts that by 2025 the wellness industry – encompassing food, beauty, health and spirituality – will be worth up to $1 trillion.
The majority shareholder in Miraval is Steve Case, the former chairman of the internet company AOL. Case switched his interest from the world wide web to wellness after his older brother, Daniel, died aged 44 of brain cancer. Case has even snapped up Wisdom, a cable channel serving up a nonstop diet of wellness advice.
Any New York residents who wish to leave city life behind, but dread leaving the Miraval biosphere, will soon be able to flee to Arizona. Miraval’s 400-acre Tucson resort will soon be home to 27 private villas, which will go on sale in 2008 at around $2.8 million (£1.38 million) apiece.
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Horses refuse to lift their hooves to stressed out people? What utter utter nonsense! A decent farrier will get any horse to lift it's hoof regardless of the horse and I'm sure they're as stressed as the rest of us. Besides like people, some horses are willing to lift a hoof for anyone and some only do so to stand on your toes!
Sally, Southampton,
Trying to force yourself to have a slice of bread when you spend all day and night in a bakery, bread blasted to you on the radio, on the tv, in the magazines, is near impossible. Take yourself out of that environment and how easy it is for a person to enjoy not just a slice but the whole loaf.
With at 11% of people in the US impotent from of varying factors to include, excessive porn, alcohol and the like, finding 'magnificent sex' shouldn't be a problem if a few lifestyle changes were considered.
Farrukh, Woking, UK