Morning dip in the ocean? Check. Haute cuisine by the beach? Check. Cardiometabolic stress test? Check.
Add medical diagnostics to the South Florida vacation must-do list for guests checking in to the region's newest resort this week. Canyon Ranch Living-Miami Beach hopes to cut through the growing list of high-end hotel offerings with a pricey mix of health screenings, spa treatments and wellness services running the gamut from nutrition to midlife angst.
Day One at Canyon Ranch might include a coordination and balance assessment ($165), followed by a 100-minute Japanese bathing ritual ($330), and then on to an 80-minute stone massage ($240) and a $350 insomnia consultation with a medical doctor.
Developers hope their $500 million Canyon Ranch, like its namesake Arizona resort, will attract throngs of affluent baby boomers willing to pay handsomely to ward off aging. But this week's opening comes during lean times for the luxury market in general, adding to the financial pressure for a condominium resort that revolves around expensive -- if healthful -- indulgences.
''We have very, very wealthy buyers,'' said Eric Sheppard, a partner in WSG Development. (A publicist later volunteered CSI:Miami star David Caruso is among the Canyon Ranch Miami Beach owners.) ``People are buying the lifestyle of mind, body, spirt and a healthy living.''
WSG launched Canyon Ranch Miami Beach at the site of the old Carillon hotel in 2005, at the height of South Florida's condominium boom. It offered 581 units -- 431 standard condominiums and 150 condo-hotel units -- for prices ranging from $500,000 to $8 million. More than 500 units sold, and Sheppard said he's seen roughly 10 percent of buyers try to back out of their contracts.
In this battered condo market, developers cherish cancellation rates that low. But Canyon Ranch can't rest easy once a contract closes. To remain profitable, it needs a population of unit owners eager to pay not just their monthly dues, but to participate in the expensive lifestyle Canyon Ranch offers.
The resort employs a full-time medical staff of 11, including a Chinese medicine specialist, nutritionist and a physical therapist. Private rooms surrounding the 75,000-square-foot health club (including a 32-foot-tall climbing wall) contain equipment for conducting tests on oxygen saturation and bone density, along with body composition scans designed to guide the fitness staff in creating exercise regimens.
Dr. Karen Koffler, the former head of integrative medicine at Evanston Northwestern Hospital in Illinois, ducks into a darkened room a few steps from the treadmills containing a $125,000 body scanner.
''It's the best bone-density and body-composition machine that is made,'' said Koffler, a medical doctor and the resort's clinical director.
While it can detect signs of bone loss on spines and hips, the device also allows fitness instructors to ditch the metal calipers typically used to measure body fat in favor of a digital image that can reveal a person's true fitness level.
''There's a lot of...skinny-fat women,'' Koffler said. ``They're thin because genetically they were blessed with the tendency to be thin. But if you peer under the tissue, there's fat under there because they're not physically active.''
To ensure clients follow the staff's workout regimens, trainers issue memory sticks embedded with each routine. When plugged into the gym's weight machines and cardio equipment, the cards won't let users lift too much and will take note if the intensity level falls short of the work-out plan.
Article written by Douglas Hanks - posted on MiamiHerald.com - November 11, 2008
Posts
