Luxury Spa to Open Its Doors to Wealthy in Koreatown
Wilshire Boulevard, the storied spine of Los Angeles, will boast a new landmark this week when a plush $35-million spa, mall and golf complex catering to the city’s affluent Korean population opens just east of Western Avenue.
Aroma Wilshire Center is believed to be the first entertainment project of its kind in the nation. It was inspired by popular high-rise fitness centers in Asia, where urban businesspeople often line up to get in after work.
The complex developed by a subsidiary of a large South Korean construction company is, to many, a statement of achievement by the city’s immigrant Korean community, which has a substantial and growing presence in the Wilshire district west of downtown. The luxurious, five-story facility is topped with a Korean-made $3-million audio-video screen visible for half a mile west.
Few in Los Angeles’ commercial real estate industry have tracked the progress of Aroma Wilshire Center, which was built on a stretch of Wilshire Boulevard that fell into decline in the 1980s. In addition, the neighborhood was hit with the closure of the Ambassador Hotel, the Bullocks Wilshire department store, the Brown Derby restaurant and other once-popular businesses as many office tenants left the area in favor of downtown and emerging suburban markets. The district was particularly hard hit by the 1992 riots and struggled for years to restore its image and attract new business.
The city’s expanding Korean community has grown into the Wilshire district since the 1990s, buying high-rises that once housed Fortune 500 companies and opening shops and restaurants. Aroma Wilshire Center raises the Korean American profile another notch.
“We are proud of the fact that the Korean community is mature enough to take on a project of this magnitude,” said project architect Christopher Pak of Los Angeles-based Archeon Group, Architecture & Planning. “We hope this will show other developers to look at this area as a viable market.”
The builders of Aroma Wilshire Center, which opens Friday, hope to attract members and day visitors from all over Los Angeles, but have calculated that there is enough interest in the Korean American community alone to justify the business gamble. Some 300 people already have ponied up as much as $22,000 to join. That covers a lifetime membership for one person and requires monthly dues of $30. A membership just to use the fitness facilities requires a $500 fee plus $200 per month.
Among the unusual amenities are baths in imported yellow mud and Korean mineral stone body treatments, along with various types of facials and massages. A new type of aerobic workout has been adapted from the traditional Korean mask dance and will be introduced here as “tal-robics.”
Other facilities include a fully equipped fitness center, junior Olympic swimming pool, communal baths and aromatic saunas. The building houses one of Los Angeles’ largest golf driving ranges with four levels, 60 tee stations and room to smack balls 150 yards into a net. Locker rooms feature marble-topped sinks and include Western and traditional Korean sit-down showers.
Retail portions of the project that will be open to the public are fully leased and include such nationally recognized tenants as Charles Schwab and Starbucks. On the top floor is a French restaurant featuring a chef formerly of downtown’s Jonathon Club, one of the city’s socially elite membership organizations. There will be more than 35 retail and service stores including fashion boutiques, gift shops, golf shops, a beauty salon, optometry office and banking. A food court on the basement level will serve an array of East Asian cuisines and include a sports bar with billiards and karaoke.
Rents in the food court are $4 per square foot per month, said broker Marc Kim of Grubb & Ellis, who found tenants for the building. The densely populated Wilshire district is underserved by prominent retailers, he said, even though the office vacancy rate exceeds 15%. “If I had more Aroma Wilshire Centers, I could lease [the retailing space] without a hitch to national tenants.”
But the long-term prospects of such an expensive membership-driven development in the central part of the city raise some doubt among real estate observers.
“To be quite honest, I would be somewhat skeptical,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “It’s pretty expensive, and people will do it for a couple of years, but the question is, is it sustainable?”
The chief executive of developer Aroma Spa & Sports says that it is. Byung Choi is already talking about expanding to New York and San Francisco.
“Convenience may be a very important factor--one-stop shopping rather than going to so many places,” Choi said. “I’m sure it will pop up in New York and D.C. and Chicago, eventually.”
Aroma Spa is a subsidiary of Hanil Development Co., a cement and construction behemoth that ranks as the 35th-largest privately held corporation in Korea. Aroma Spa is Hanil’s first American subsidiary and its first gym or mall.
And the name, Aroma?
“From the perspective of our visionaries in Korea, it is a way of expressing beauty and essence of sensual luxury,” said company spokesman Erik Laykin. “It is a name they chose with great forethought.”
He hopes the entertainment center, with its banquet rooms and unusual mix of services, will be embraced in the multicultural manner Los Angeles is known for.
“Wilshire Boulevard Temple is just a block away,” Laykin said. “Aroma Wilshire Center could be available for bar mitzvahs.”
Associated Press was used in compiling this report.
