If your body is a temple, these health-saturated condos must be heaven
Living a healthy lifestyle isn't just about smoothies, superfoods and CrossFit.
It's also about posture-supporting floors, vitamin C showers and lights synced to your circadian rhythm -- if you're able to score one of Manhattan's wellness-themed pads.
The Delos Residences at 66 East 11th Street are meant to "actively and passively support health, well-being and lifestyle" by adhering to a strict new set of guidelines called the WELL Building Standard. Think of it as LEED certification taken a step further, with building materials and practices that are not only eco-friendly, but claim to enhance the health of the occupants.
Delos co-founder and CEO Paul Scialla says the idea came to him when he was renovating the loft that he and his twin brother shared in New York's Meatpacking District, and "quickly discovered that no one was offering a holistic wellness solution for homes."
The loft became a sort of test lab for the future Delos Residences. He started thinking about features he could incorporate that would act as a sort of preventative medicine.
"The concept of wellness has permeated our society, and today wellness is the fastest-growing consumer industry in the world," Scialla tells Yahoo Homes. "As the public has become more and more knowledgeable about how to lead a healthy lifestyle, the focus of the sustainability movement has expanded to creating healthy work and living environments."
So Scialla and Delos co-founder Morad Fareed enlisted the help of scientists and doctors from Columbia University Medical School, along with architects, engineers and contractors, to figure out what kind of environment could boost human health.
Once the WELL standard was developed -- divided into seven categories, air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind -- Delos began building condos that fit the bill. As he told the New York Times: "Think of it like a 24-hour car wash that works on the human body."
They have advanced indoor air quality control systems; lights designed to mimic natural light and deliver vitamin D; a kitchen with top-of-the-line steamers, blenders, juicers and fresh herbs; aromatherapy and sound wave technology to soothe stress.
(Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of this "24-hour car wash that works on the human body.")
The company's first residential building in Greenwich Village attracted a lot of attention, including the eye of Leonardo DiCaprio, who now sits on the Delos advisory board with Deepak Chopra and Dick Gephardt.
DiCaprio owns one of the five condos in the building, and paid $10 million for it through a trust represented by his cousin, Yahoo Homes has confirmed -- a nice discount from its initial $14.5 million asking price. It wasn't as good a deal as Chopra apparently struck, though; according to property records, Chopra's unit of the same size (three bedrooms, three baths, 3,663 square feet) cost him $5,854,937. And 50 cents.
The price tag on the most expensive condo in the building, a nearly 8,000-square-foot triplex with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, was slashed 20 percent, to $39.8 million from the original $50 million.
So far, this kind of health-centric living may only be for the super-rich.
Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of Delos' "wellness condos."
Here's a video tour of the penthouse:
