Luxury Living
Built for Living Well
Can these homes actually help you stay healthier and live longer?
Luxury developers around the country are taking a holistic approach to wellness, creating healthy homes that are promoting longevity and quality of life with state-of-the-art, resort-style amenities. “We think about wellness as an ecosystem that supports the way people live every day,” says Tony Chen, Director of the Hawaii-based developer ProsPac Holdings Group. “For us, that means spaces that encourage creativity, social connection, movement, and recovery.”
In Hawaii, which is one of the world’s great wellness destinations, it also means “embracing the outdoors and the lifestyle people already aspire to here: ocean, mountains, movement, food, family, and community,” he says.
That’s the philosophy behind his company’s newest endeavor, Kali‘u Ala Moana, Hawaii’s first wellness-centered condominium development, where, he says, “we create residential sanctuaries above a private wellness retreat.”
The development, which is in Honolulu’s avant-garde Kaka‘ako neighborhood, pairs 285 condos with 42,000 square feet of commercial space and is mapped around four areas that promote holistic wellness: creativity, human connection, movement, and recovery.
The spa-like amenities include a state-of-the-art gym, an infinity-edge saltwater pool, an outdoor fitness lawn with natural grass, and a pickleball court. They are supplemented by sauna and steam rooms, a poolside spa, hot and cold plunges, a massage/treatment room, a reflexology walking path, an outdoor Zen garden, an Aescape robotic massage, an Ammortal Chamber wellness pod, and TOTO Neorest Flotation Tubs.
The wellness theme continues in the residences, which were designed in collaboration with the global design firm Olson Kundig. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide soothing views of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains of O‘ahu, and materials such as white oak, stone, and wool strengthen the connection between residents and nature. Centralized hot-water and air-conditioning systems free up space in units and reduce in-home maintenance, and layouts and door and bulkhead locations follow the principles of feng shui. “The goal is to make it easier for residents to do the things they already value—feel their best each day, recover from exercise and adventure, and fully relax,” Chen says.
At HQ Residences Miami, developed by sbe, Black Salmon, The Boschetti Group, and Constellation Group, the wellness amenities begin with the blueprints.
As at Kali‘u Ala Moana, the goal is to provide optimal experiences that benefit residents physically, mentally, and socially. “It’s about creating an environment that can positively contribute to how you feel and live every day,” says Maile Aguila, principal of The Agency South Florida’s New Development Division.
Creating this vision requires the collaboration of architects, designers, developers, wellness experts, hospitality professionals, and a sales and marketing team. The development, which is WELL Certified, prioritizes human health and well-being, taking into consideration how everything—including materials, paints, finishes, cleaning products, protocols, air and water filtration systems, and lighting—affects residents.
The wellness experience, curated by Kane Sarhan, co-founder and chief creative officer of the lifestyle wellness company THE WELL, includes a spa and thermal treatments, a hammam, sauna and steam rooms, contrast-therapy circuits and plunge pools, treatment spaces, a fitness center, and open-air training.
As wellness features evolve, they’re expected to become standard features instead of just amenities in the luxury sector. “The next generation of luxury development will increasingly consider those elements from the earliest stages of design rather than trying to incorporate wellness after a building has been created,” Aguila says.
The commitment to wellness, Aguila adds, starts before the resident even enters the home and doesn’t cease when construction is completed. “The philosophy is about maintaining an environment that continues to perform for the people who live there,” she says.
Luxury developers around the country are taking a holistic approach to wellness, creating healthy homes that are promoting longevity and quality of life with state-of-the-art, resort-style amenities. “We think about wellness as an ecosystem that supports the way people live every day,” says Tony Chen, Director of the Hawaii-based developer ProsPac Holdings Group. “For us, that means spaces that encourage creativity, social connection, movement, and recovery.”
In Hawaii, which is one of the world’s great wellness destinations, it also means “embracing the outdoors and the lifestyle people already aspire to here: ocean, mountains, movement, food, family, and community,” he says.
That’s the philosophy behind his company’s newest endeavor, Kali‘u Ala Moana, Hawaii’s first wellness-centered condominium development, where, he says, “we create residential sanctuaries above a private wellness retreat.”
The development, which is in Honolulu’s avant-garde Kaka‘ako neighborhood, pairs 285 condos with 42,000 square feet of commercial space and is mapped around four areas that promote holistic wellness: creativity, human connection, movement, and recovery.
The spa-like amenities include a state-of-the-art gym, an infinity-edge saltwater pool, an outdoor fitness lawn with natural grass, and a pickleball court. They are supplemented by sauna and steam rooms, a poolside spa, hot and cold plunges, a massage/treatment room, a reflexology walking path, an outdoor Zen garden, an Aescape robotic massage, an Ammortal Chamber wellness pod, and TOTO Neorest Flotation Tubs.
The wellness theme continues in the residences, which were designed in collaboration with the global design firm Olson Kundig. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide soothing views of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains of O‘ahu, and materials such as white oak, stone, and wool strengthen the connection between residents and nature. Centralized hot-water and air-conditioning systems free up space in units and reduce in-home maintenance, and layouts and door and bulkhead locations follow the principles of feng shui. “The goal is to make it easier for residents to do the things they already value—feel their best each day, recover from exercise and adventure, and fully relax,” Chen says.
At HQ Residences Miami, developed by sbe, Black Salmon, The Boschetti Group, and Constellation Group, the wellness amenities begin with the blueprints.
As at Kali‘u Ala Moana, the goal is to provide optimal experiences that benefit residents physically, mentally, and socially. “It’s about creating an environment that can positively contribute to how you feel and live every day,” says Maile Aguila, principal of The Agency South Florida’s New Development Division.
Creating this vision requires the collaboration of architects, designers, developers, wellness experts, hospitality professionals, and a sales and marketing team. The development, which is WELL Certified, prioritizes human health and well-being, taking into consideration how everything—including materials, paints, finishes, cleaning products, protocols, air and water filtration systems, and lighting—affects residents.
The wellness experience, curated by Kane Sarhan, co-founder and chief creative officer of the lifestyle wellness company THE WELL, includes a spa and thermal treatments, a hammam, sauna and steam rooms, contrast-therapy circuits and plunge pools, treatment spaces, a fitness center, and open-air training.
As wellness features evolve, they’re expected to become standard features instead of just amenities in the luxury sector. “The next generation of luxury development will increasingly consider those elements from the earliest stages of design rather than trying to incorporate wellness after a building has been created,” Aguila says.
The commitment to wellness, Aguila adds, starts before the resident even enters the home and doesn’t cease when construction is completed. “The philosophy is about maintaining an environment that continues to perform for the people who live there,” she says.
“Increasingly, luxury is measured in quality of life — all within the place you call home.”
tony chen
director, prospac holdings group
Even in single-family luxury homes, the custom health and wellness features rival those of the world’s five-star resorts. “It’s not just a gym, it’s a wellness center,” says Los Angeles-based Santiago Arana, Principal at The Agency. “It’s about different levels of amenities.”
Arana, who is also a developer, included a custom temperature-controlled cold plunge that seats eight people in one of his single-family homes in Los Angeles. It is equipped with a native system to counter the effects of chlorine on the skin and an ultraviolet filter that kills bacteria. The house also has two saunas—one high heat, the other infrared—a gym, a 100-foot lap pool, and a recovery room with a hyperbaric chamber for oxygen, a recovery booth, and a station for red-light therapy.
Buyers are also requesting sports courts—pickleball is still all the rage!—and water and air filtration systems. And some are literally plugging in to erase the effects of electromagnetic fields generated by power lines, smartphones, and appliances.
Chen says that as the wellness category evolves and expands, there will be more crossover among the residential real estate, hospitality, technology, and preventive health industries. The next wave of amenities, he says, will provide more personalized, at-home experiences “that feel natural and intuitive rather than clinical or gimmicky.”
And developers are more than up to the task of refining and redefining luxury.
A beautiful residence is still essential but, increasingly, luxury is measured in time, convenience, health, and quality of life—the ability to work, host, exercise, recover, disconnect and reconnect, all within the place you call home,” Chen says. ■
