The project, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway, includes three oceanfront towers with 101 hotel-condo units and 195 condominium residences. It also includes an Aveda Destination Spa and a Himalayan Institute Wellness Center. This is the first time the Blaine, MN-based Aveda Corp. and the Honesdale, PA-based Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science have partnered on a project.

Developers are hoping to break ground on the project by the end of the year with the hotel is scheduled to open in late 2009. Marketing efforts for the hotel condo units have just started, with units priced from the $600,000s. Playground Destination Properties is the exclusive sales agent for the hotel condo units.

The hotel will be a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Saleh manages independent luxury hotels which are members of Preferred Hotels & Resorts or Leading Hotels of the World. Other properties the company manages include the 298-room Colonnade Hotel in Boston and the 49-room Orchards Hotel in Williamstown, MA.

"The project is quite unique," says the Saleh Hospitality Group CEO Sayed Saleh. "We think the components of the project are a good recipe for success."

The project is aimed at capitalizing on the spa and wellness travel industry, which is the fastest growing segment of the hospitality industry. By 2010, the industry is expected to contribute $1 trillion annually to the US economy. Although the wellness theme of the project is unique, the management of the hotel will be similar to other luxury hotels, Saleh says. "The fundamentals of operating a first-class resort are the same," he says.