Greenwich MedSpa set to reopen 2 years after car crash, fire
GREENWICH – Dec. 17, 2020 was a devastating day.
Devon Dalio, 42, crashed his through the storefront at the Verizon store in the Riverside Plaza shopping center in a 2106 Audi, starting a fire inside the building when the gas tank ruptured. Dalio died in the car crash and fire, which was later ruled “accidental” by the Office of the State Medical Examiner
The Verizon store and the adjoining business, Greenwich MedSpa, were severely damaged and forced to close.
Now, Greenwich MedSpa, is rising from the ashes and preparing to reopen its doors next month, with a possible opening date of April 15.
Marria Pooya, the entrepreneur who founded Greenwich MedSpa over a decade ago, assumed at first the business could reopen in a few weeks after she inspected the damage from outside — until she went inside.
“It was completely filled with soot, smoke and water damage. Completely ruined. It was such a mess,” she said.
Pooya said a sense of deep sadness also hung over the building over the loss of life, which stunned the community.
Devon Dalio grew up in Greenwich, and he was the son of local philanthropists. Ray and Barbara Dalio. Ray Dalio founded the Westport-based hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and is considered to be Connecticut’s wealthiest resident. A message left with a spokesman for the Dalios, Russell Sherman, seeking comment on the accident, was not returned. Devon Dalio was working in a private equity firm focused on health-care technology companies at the time of his death.
Pooya, who said Dalio’s death was “so sad,” focused on what she could: rebuilding her business.
The operation, which will be “better than ever,” will be twice the size of the previous spa and feature a number of innovative design elements and a community meeting space.
A native of Afghanistan who came to this country as a child, Pooya worked as a Wall Street analyst covering the retail sector and beauty market. After starting a family, she decided to leave the financial field and start her own business, putting her
extensive knowledge of the beauty and skin-care field to use as a the owner of Greenwich MedSpa, which opened in 2005.
The Riverside location was the flagship of the operation, which now has seven locations in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey — Westport, Ridgefield, Glastonbury, West Hartford, Scarsdale and Closter. The company offers Botox injections, fillers, body “contouring,” hair removal and various skin care procedures, all
employing non-surgical technologies.
After the fire, Pooya set up the Greenwich operation at a temporary site on the Post Road, which has been running since early 2021. There were no job losses as a result of the fire, Pooya noted. Business had been booming as a result of the pandemic, she said: a renewed attention to personal appearances during the lockdown phase when teleconferenced meetings became the norm created a
demand for skin-care and beauty services.
Since last summer, workers have been laying down drywall, painting and installing mechanicals in preparation for a reopening in the spring. The process had been delayed by COVID, supplychain disruptions and a lengthy permitting process. The whole structure was re-built.
“The town said we’d have to gut the whole thing out,” said Pooya, a resident of Wesport, “So everything is brand new.”
Besides the treatment rooms, a lounge and amenities for staff, the center will also offer a conference room for local groups to use for meetings and educational purposes, Pooya said, as part of her “community-building” objective. The beauty-field entrepreneur said she hoped to help promote education and career growth for women: “Empowering women is really important for me.”
Seventeen employees will work at the Riverside location, she said, in parttime and full-time capacities.
The interior is being designed by Stephanie Purzycki of Fairfield. The designer said she was using textures and materials to create “a calm soothing environment that enhances the patient’s experience.” Artwork and murals will also showcase “the elegance and power of women,” she said.
The beauty entrepreneur says she’s counting down the days to the relaunch.
“I just can’t wait for it to open, to see team members and patients coming back, that’s driving me, “Pooya said, “And coming back stronger and better.”