The city has seen a spate of announcements for new sauna and spa concepts.
The most recent is Lore, a so-called “bathing club” in Noho that opened last month.
At the same time, Othership, whose Flatiron location offers both classes and raves, opened its Williamsburg location.
Williamsburg’s Bathhouse, where the pools are heated by crypto mining and its lawyers have assured the public the water is NOT giving people UTIs, opened its Flatiron location last year.
Not to be outdone, Kith Ivy, a padel club from the streetwear brand, plans to nestle a cold plunge, sauna and jacuzzi between the Erewhon tonic bar and the Giorgio Armani-branded locker room.
Remedy Place, which bills itself as a “social wellness club,” started in West Hollywood but opened its third location in Soho in November.
Finally, sauna concept Saint is planning to open this fall in MAG Partners’ residential building Ruby on West 29th Street.
To be sure, Manhattan had its fair share of saunas before this most recent wave: Koreatown’s many spas, the Russian and Turkish Baths, your everyday Equinox locker room.
And before that, there were gay bathhouses, although most of those were closed by the city in the 1980s in a controversial attempt to stem the spread of HIV.
But these new sauna concepts seem to be trying to do something slightly different: marketing these locations as a place to socialize. This is a reversal of the more traditional sauna etiquette, which calls for only quiet conversations.
The thinking is that people want a place to meet others that’s not drinking or on their phones. Why not in a bathing suit, dripping in sweat?
At Othership, there are group sauna classes to facilitate that connection.
“Regardless of how long you stay in that ice bath, you’re doing it with people you’ve never met before,” said Cassie Durand, an executive vice president at CBRE who is working with Othership expansion locations. “You’re instantly connected, you instantly feel a sense of accomplishment that’s a shared activity.”
Lore has also tried to play up its role as a potential “third space.” At Remedy Place and Kith Ivy, a social club is baked into the offering.
(The exception here is Saint, which offers private sauna “studios,” explaining, “In a time of ‘social saunas,’ we hope to offer something else: quiet moments of solitude.”)
The interest in saunas and cold plunges appears to be national, Durand said. Home saunas are taking off among the nation’s higher-dollar homebuyers, the New York Times reported. So it makes sense that New Yorkers, used to apartment living, would turn to more public options.
And there has been broader interest citywide in boutique health and wellness, as the Real Estate Board of New York noted in a recent retail report.
“It illustrates how formative COVID was in terms of awareness of self-care and mental well-being,” said Keith DeCoster, vice president of research at REBNY.
However, there are hurdles to building these sauna and cold plunge locations from a real estate perspective.
“You’re dealing with small pools, tons of power, just objectively challenging infrastructure requirements combined with code,” Durand said. Part of the reason these businesses, including Othership, cluster in Flatiron, she said, is that the area pulls in the residential, office and tourism markets.
So, come on in — the water’s freezing.
What we’re thinking about: Private equity owners have been getting into New York’s multifamily market for a little while now. But what are they like as landlords? Well-capitalized stewards? Neglectful bad actors? Drop me a line: lilah.burke@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: You can incorporate a sign as a commercial condo unit, as illustrated by the $12 million sale of a Times Square billboard this week. Vornado previously nabbed a $407 million loan in part secured by a six-story billboard on the Marriott Marquis.
Elsewhere
— House Minority Leader and Brooklyn voter Hakeem Jeffries has offered Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani a last-minute endorsement. “Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a Mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries said in a statement.
— New York State Attorney General Letitia James pled not guilty today on charges of mortgage fraud, Politico reported.
— The city’s new 15 mph speed limit on e-bikes goes into effect today. Devotees of CitiBike’s “White Stallion” e-bike are not pleased, the Times reported.
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Friday was $36 million for 10 East 67th Street. The Lenox Hill mansion is 13,000 square feet. It last sold on-market for $28.5 million in 2006. Serhant’s Melissa Post and Ryan Serhant have the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $6.1 million for 96 South 9th Street. The Williamsburg church is three stories and 3,400 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $5.8 million for 720 West End Avenue, Unit 11C. The Upper West Side condo is a new development and 2,300 square feet. Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group has the listing.
— Joseph Jungermann