In what may be the first of many to fundamentally redesign in the face of the challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami’s Legacy Hotel & Residences recently announced plans to incorporate a medical and wellness center into its facility.
Set to break ground this fall to cater to an increasingly health-conscious society, the Center for Health + Performance is being designed to meet pandemic qualifications, although it will primarily function as a preventative healthcare space for patients, hotel guests and owners.
In the planning stages for over a year, the 100,000 square-foot, $60 million facility is being developed by Dan Kodsi of Royal Palm Companies and healthcare expert Stephen Watson. Legacy also consulted healthcare architecture firm Perkins & Will, the healthcare consulting firm Coker Group, and the construction company Vilar-Hoynack to ensure that the hotel and wellness center meet medical guidelines.
The Legacy, which will house hotel guests as well as owners of the tower’s 274 branded vacation residences, hopes to be able to stay operational during any future pandemics, and to be a model for future hotels responding to the current pandemic.
The hotel will integrate various systems to keep its guests and residents healthy, such as air purification and filtration systems, voice-activated elevators, anti-microbial surfaces and robot-controlled scheduled sterilization cleaning and UV light sanitation in high traffic areas.
The medical center will feature medically equipped hotel rooms for post-surgical patients, surgery rooms, a full diagnostic center, onsite pharmacy and lab as well as teams of physicians and practitioners.
“This type of hotel model couldn’t be arriving at a more important time,” said Kodsi in a press release. “One of the many impacts of Covid-19 will be a more informed and hyper-cautious traveler that will be looking for hotels and vacation homes that prioritize their health and safety without sacrificing that luxury lifestyle experience they are accustomed to,” said Watson. “Legacy is catering to a new wave of consumers who will be increasingly invested in their health and wellness when making any future travel or real estate decisions.”