We arrived at The Opus, Westchester in White Plains breathlessly, having taken the wrong turn and then exited the car with the key in hand, leaving the valet speechless.
Yet all that dissipated on the hotel’s ninth floor at the new Opus Spa. Maybe it was the warm greeting by Director Jasmine Warren formerly of Heydey Skincare, WTS International and Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas and her staff. Maybe it was the soothing gray and blue palette of the 10,000-square-foot space. Maybe it was all of the above. Whatever it was, we exhaled and smiled.
We’ve not been the only ones. Recently, the spa hosted a birthday party for 11 women who had 16 different treatments, said hotel General Manager Elizabeth Andrews. That confirmed her faith in bringing the spa back. When the 146-room hotel, which has 38 suites, held a ribbon-cutting in May of last year — on the site of the former Ritz-Carlton New York, Westchester, which had a spa the notion of the spa returning was not a foregone conclusion. But Andrews said she saw an opportunity to create a wellness center in a hotel that occupies pride of place in the appropriately named Renaissance Square, overlooking the site of the $585.2 million, mixed-use Hamilton Green development.
With rates rebounding at The Opus and across the hotel industry, we’re really positioned to be an urban resort destination, andrews said over coffee with us and Warren in the hotel’s Lobby Lounge
Besides an array of facials, body wraps and massages in 11 treatment rooms, The Opus Spa is home to cupping therapy, in which suction removes toxins, improving circulation; and Reiki healing, a Japanese form of alternative medicine in which gentle touch conveys energy from the palms of the healer to the recipient to promote physical and emotional well-being. We experienced Reiki healing and Le Opus Grande Classique facial, which uses Yon-ka Paris products, with aesthetician and Reiki healer Courtney Leff, a Bridgeport resident whose expert touch and kind, supportive manner left us glowing inside and out. (Other facials use Biologique Recherche Paris and emerginC products, Warren said.)
But The Opus Spa is about more than these treatments. A hair and nail salon is scheduled to open at the end of the month.
We do a lot of events, aid Andrews, whose 20 years in hospitality began when she was a dancer working the front desk at what is now Sixty SoHo in Manhattan. We host a lot of wedding groups. why not, she added, make the hotel their one stop for event preparedness?
Indeed, the spa is home to the oversize 919 Opus Spa Suite, with one bedroom and one and a half bathrooms for any group getting ready for a big day.
For spa and hotel guests looking for a one-stop wellness destination, an antioxidant Himalayan Salt Chamber to aid respiration is also slated to open at the end of the month. The spa also has a sauna, nutrition coaching, a 2,500-square-foot Fitness Center and an indoor, heated, rooftop swimming pool, where guests can get a bite to eat and where poolside sound baths featuring meditation with singing bowls, which produce echoing sounds when you touch them will be part of the spa’s programming, Andrews said.)
The pool is, of course, not your only dining option. The music-accented, American-flavored Lobby Lounge serves breakfast, dinner and cocktails, while Kanopi on the 42nd and 43rd floors offers a Mediterranean tasting menu, courtesy of chef Anthony Gonalves, and panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and the New York City skyline by reservation only Wednesday through Sunday evenings.
However, tell anyone you’re doing a story on The Opus and they’ll say, Yes, but what about Red Horse?
Ah, yes, Red Horse by David Burke is the new Asian-infused steakhouse coming to the 7,900-square-foot Opus space formerly occupied by BLT in the winter. Recently, David Burke Hospitality Management (DBHM) signed an 11-year lease with Renaissance Hotel Partners to create a 200-seat restaurant (with another 80 seats outdoors) that will be the second steakhouse under the Red Horse banner the flagship being in Rumson, New Jersey signaling Burke’s intention to grow the brand in the Hudson Valley. (DBHM also has a number of other New York state restaurants in Manhattan, Garden City and Saratoga.)
Unlike the former BLT, Red Horse will allow patrons to charge their meals there to their Opus rooms, Andrews said, adding that while the White Plains Red Horse will be distinct from its Rumson cousin, there will be familiar features, from signature menu items (Popovers, Clothesline Bacon, Lobster Dumplings, Salmon Pastrami, Angry Lobster and Pork Chops with Sandy Hook Clams Casino) to the dcor (red-and-white stirrup print wallpaper, hand-blown red glass rods and a copy of the oil painting of a ruby-colored horse from Burke’s collection that inspired the name).
Among the most dramatic design elements a pink Himalayan salt wall separating the open kitchen from the dining room (but not hiding one from the other, thanks to a row of windows).
The salt wall is a reminder of Burkes patented technique for dry-aging prime beef. But it also evokes halotherapy at The Opus Spa a symbol that The Opus is determined to sound a holistic experience for visitors.
The Opus Spa offers two different membership programs that include unlimited access to the spa facilities, the pool and the Fitness Center. For more, visit theopuswestchester.com/spa/.
