The Daily Telegraph

‘Spiritual concierges’ lift younger home buyers to higher plane

- By Josie Ensor in New York

US REAL estate developers have started throwing in “spiritual concierge” services as part of a package to appeal to millennial buyers.

High-end developmen­ts in cities from Los Angeles to New York are offering meditation, healers and shamans to cater for the “wellness” generation. A “spiritual concierge” can set residents up with anything from full moon intention ceremonies to sound baths.

Eran Polack, developer of Maverick in New York, was sceptical when his marketing team first proposed the idea.

“I’m not a spiritual person, I have to be honest with you,” he told The New York Times.

“I’m a real estate developer trying to build a building and a programme people will enjoy.”

But Mr Polack said he thought spiritual offerings could appeal to millennial buyers, who place more of an emphasis on mental health and are looking for more perks than yoga and pilates classes.

A mixture of the Covid-19 pandemic and record temperatur­es has pushed many people out of America’s biggest cities, creating competitio­n to attract buyers.

A new developmen­t in Columbus, Ohio, is even offering a Transcende­ntal Meditation centre.

“The physical health thing is important – we have gyms, we have trainers and yoga studios and running clubs,” said Brett Kaufman, founder of the

Gravity Project. “But we believe we need to treat the mental health and spiritual side of things with the same level of importance.”

He also has plans to bring mental health profession­als, therapists and life coaches on-site.

Gardenhous­e in Beverly Hills, which boasts the largest “living wall” in America and strives for “enlightene­d urban living”, hosts monthly spiritual experience­s tied to lunar cycles.

Its “full moon intention ceremony”, which features sage burning, encourages residents to release any repressed emotions by writing them down in a journal.

Some of the developmen­ts have spiritual experts on call to consult residents upon request.

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