Riverland adds Ember & Salt Spa with hot, cold plunge pools

GL Homes is folding hot and cold plunge pools into Riverland as part of a broader pitch: wellness is not an add-on here, it is the product. The new Ember & Salt Spa was updated May 6, 2026, with construction scheduled to begin May 4, and it pushes the Port St. Lucie master plan further into the recovery-and-lifestyle lane that has become central to residential real-estate marketing.

The spa’s lineup is built like a full contrast-therapy circuit. Plans call for hot and cold plunge pools, an aromatherapy steam room, an herbal sauna, an infrared sauna, rain showers, a welcoming lobby, a Himalayan serenity lounge, massage suites, and a full-service nail salon. That mix matters because it packages cold immersion as one part of a larger daily ritual, not a standalone amenity reserved for athletes or boutique wellness clubs.

Riverland has the scale to support that ambition. GL Homes describes the community as 4,000 acres in Port St. Lucie with more than 100,000 square feet of master-planned amenities. The project already includes a 24-acre Sports & Racquet Club, a 51,000-square-foot Wellness & Fitness Center, a 5-acre Arts & Culture Center, and miles of pedestrian pathways and greenways. GL Homes also says Riverland is among the top 50 master-planned communities in the nation and home to the nation’s largest pickleball facility inside a gated community.

The Ember & Salt Spa is the latest piece in a rollout that has been building for years. GL Homes first announced spa and nail salon amenities for Riverland in February 2024, and earlier coverage framed the spa within the Wellness & Fitness Center. More recent details added four massage suites and a direct connection to the locker rooms, underscoring how the development is trying to make recovery feel convenient rather than ceremonial.

For cold plunge readers, the signal is clear. Riverland is treating immersion, heat, steam, and recovery as a neighborhood amenity, not a niche indulgence. That is exactly where the market is heading. The Global Wellness Institute says wellness residential projects grew from 740 in 2018 to more than 2,300 by 2021, and its 2025 update puts the wellness real estate market at $584 billion in 2024, with a forecast of $1.1 trillion by 2029.

GL Homes is also still expanding the community itself, with Valencia Vista coming soon as Riverland’s fifth 55+ community. In that context, Ember & Salt Spa is more than a shiny new feature. It is another sign that cold plunge culture has moved deep into the residential mainstream, where access, convenience, and premium branding now sit side by side.