In the Hamptons, wellness used to mean taking a walk on the beach and maybe drinking less rosé before dinner.
Now it means a six-person infrared sauna, a meditation room with acoustically engineered “soundproof serenity panels” and a concierge nurse arriving at your rental to hook you up to an IV bag after a difficult evening of lobster rolls and tequila.
The optimization of Hamptonites’ sleep, hydration, nervous systems, mitochondrial function and possibly chakras has trickled into the real estate industry, as amenitized, “restorative” homes have increasingly defined the region’s luxury.
As a top market, the East End has now become a sort of laboratory where architecture, biohacking, spa culture and conspicuous consumption merge into one very expensive eucalyptus-scented fog. New builds might allocate $300,000 in the budget to wellness line items, according to a builder who asked to remain anonymous so as not to jeopardize future business.
Not every buyer wants the full menu. However, Garrett Pike of Corcoran said that Hamptons buyers now routinely ask for wellness features, particularly in higher-end properties.
Pike currently represents 154 Powell Avenue in Southampton, a new build in the village listed at $4.2 million — hardly the high end here. It still has a whole level “designed for luxury and wellness,” the listing claims: a home gym, spa room, infrared sauna, massage table and steam shower. (The level also has a wine cellar and wet bar.)
Keith Green, from Sotheby’s in East Hampton, has a listing for a $30 million new build in tony Georgica where the steam shower, sauna, massage station and gym look out on a “wellness garden” with a hot tub, cold plunge pool and outdoor shower. “The younger cohort simply has emerged with a different view about what defines excellence in life,” he said, leaning “into wellness and making good, healthy decisions.” That’s one group of buyers.
“Then we have the middle-aged people, who are thinking, ‘Maybe it’s time for adjustments. It’s time for redirecting how I’m spending my money and my time. How I’m using my life.’ The third cohort, the aging baby boomer, is thinking ‘This my last chance.’”
A cultural reality may be driving the demand: Hamptons homeowners are exhausted. The city is loud, work is relentless and current events provide a perpetual rollercoaster. Wealthy homeowners come east searching for calm — or at least for a really beautiful room in which to feel anxious.
The menu
Among the most popular wellness offerings installed recently in Hamptons homes are cold plunge pools, infrared saunas and full spa systems.
The cold plunge trend, in particular, inspires a certain skepticism among otherwise enthusiastic wellness devotees. Some studies suggest cold plunge pools are transformative; others that they simply “make you cold for five minutes.” That conflict has not stopped homeowners from installing them, and they seem especially prominent in rental properties, according to listings reviewed by The Real Deal.
“It’s more about the actual architecture of the house than all the bells and whistles.”
Infrared saunas have become another status symbol, although opinions on those are also divided. One homeowner who wanted to remain anonymous described the experience as “like you are being microwaved.” Still, developers continue to install them because nothing says “I prioritize longevity” like roasting yourself in a cedar closet.
Concierge IV now dispatches registered nurses to homes, hotels and summer rentals throughout the Hamptons to administer hydration drips filled with vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes and vaguely defined “detoxifying” ingredients — which could take place in any of the rooms oriented to wellness.
IV DRIPS, which has custom drip formulas for prenatal, migraines, food poisoning, detox, vitality and a specialized NAD+ infusion, runs at least $1,200 for a dose. Its founder, nurse practitioner Bracha L. Banayan, called her service “convenient, affordable and comfortable” for Hamptonites.
Beyond the cold plunge
Not every wellness tweak is over-the-top. In Hamptons luxury, sources said that massive double-height living rooms are giving way to softer, more intimate environments. Architects talk about “flow,” “respite” and “reducing friction,” as though every house were a wellness retreat crossed with a luxury hotel, regardless of its checklist of true wellness amenities.
“For us, it’s more about the actual architecture of the house than all the bells and whistles,” Hamptons architect Blaze Makoid said.
Instead of designing flashy trophy homes, Makoid said that he focuses on making spaces peaceful: layered interiors, natural textures and human-scaled rooms.
The design language surrounding wellness spaces has become almost spiritual, Elsa Soyers, an interior designer who works in both the Hamptons and in Europe, said. That translates to natural stone, limewash walls, organic woods and other elements from what she termed “nature’s palette.” Soyers has incorporated selenite chandeliers, rose quartz, translucent marble, meditation altars, Tibetan bowls and carefully sourced wool into her designs because “everything is energy.”
In service of wellness, Hamptons builders have made pragmatic updates, putting in extra air filtration, circadian-friendly lighting and water purification systems, or relying on nontoxic building materials. Biophilic design — the concept of connecting indoor environments to nature — has also become central to the architecture. Walls of glass overlook dunes, interior courtyards, reflecting pools, wildflower gardens or lavender beds.
Makoid argues that scale matters as much as amenities. Many new homes are intentionally broken into smaller volumes so they feel comprehensible and calming rather than cavernous. As he explains, people subconsciously relax when they can understand their surroundings. That concept may sound abstract, but anyone who has wandered through a 14,000-square-foot spec mansion with nine marble bathrooms and the emotional warmth of an airport terminal understands exactly what he means.
And some of the most wellness-oriented homes are the least ostentatious. Pike described his Southampton listing as “unassuming,” noting that from the street, you would never know what’s inside. In a region increasingly dominated by architectural peacocking, restraint itself can be relaxing.
Of course, it’s not a new function for the Hamptons to play counter to city life. Even decades ago, architects emphasized natural light, uncluttered spaces and connections to the landscape.
Makoid has mixed feelings about calling it all wellness. Comparing the spa stuff to the greenwashing trend of a decade ago, he dismissed at least some of it as a trend — “wellness washing.”
Others are sure it’s here to stay. The amenities so far aren’t “mandatory” in the high end, according to Sam Kelly of Bespoke Real Estate, who has a new listing in Bridgehampton with its own wellness space, but they will be soon.
“The home theater wave that we saw 15 years ago has kind of fizzled,” he said. “But these spaces have a ton of longevity.”