When music producer Justin Estill wanted some manly bonding time with his buddy, he was hoping to kick back and relax with a few beers.
Instead of heading to the nearest sports bar, he and buddy Michael Ladagana packed their bathing suits and went to the newly opened Spa Castle Premier 57 — the more sophisticated sister to the popular Queens emporium of relaxation with pools, saunas and a party atmosphere.
After all, bars require shirts.
“It’s a boys’ day out,” says Estill. The 30-year-old music producer tested the waters on opening day in early December and loved it so much, he returned a few days later with Ladagana, a construction worker from Astoria. “It’s a day to take the suit off,” he adds, standing shirtless outside the spa’s cafe. “We’re going to get massages and hit all of the [sauna] rooms.”
Open daily from 9 a.m. til midnight, the 39,000-square-foot space on 57th Street has become a zen oasis in the middle of bustling Midtown. Unlike the original sprawling outpost in College Point — which has hosted tweeners’ birthday celebrations and rowdy pool parties — the minimum age for entry here is 16.
The vibe is tranquil and the decor, sleek.
Ladagana, who says he’s been in spas from Brazil to the Big Apple, is impressed by this one’s design, cleanliness and mature clientele.
“I’ve been to the Queens one, and there’s no comparison,” the 34-year-old says. “This is geared more towards professionals.”
And that, Spa Castle management says, was the intention.
“We want to create a more serene atmosphere,” says chief marketing officer Stephanie Chon. “It’s quiet, and it’s a lot darker and more contemporary” than the Queens space. She says the clientele is split evenly between men and women who, when they’re not in their swimsuits, wear gray, hospital-scrublike duds.
A $65 full-day pass buys entry to several kinds of saunas — a dry salt-air room, one with gold-plated walls to rejuvenate sluggish organs and another whose relatively icy temperatures hover around 50 degrees. There’s also a pool with hydrotherapy jets, meditation rooms and a swim-up bar. Massages, reflexology and facials are available, too, for an added fee.
It’s manna for space-starved Manhattanites like bartender Rebecca Rivera, who notes, “I don’t have a bathtub in my apartment, so I can’t wait to submerge myself.”
The 33-year-old and her co-workers at Lower East Side restaurant Beauty & Essex treated their friend to a pre-dinner spree.
“She’s had a rough past few months, so she needs to feel good,” says Rivera, 33, of her pal Susie Lee. “Someone had mentioned going to the Russian baths [in the East Village], but I saw this on Facebook. We decided we wanted to do this instead. This is so much cooler.”
In between treatments, meditation and dips in the pool, spa-goers have access to the cafe, which serves Starbucks, chopped salads and healthful Japanese nibbles. There’s no need to carry around cash: Electronic bracelets record all their purchases.
The swim-up bar, which serves wine and beer, limits patrons to three drinks so no one gets too tipsy.
“After this, we’re doing dinner [at a nearby restaurant],” Rivera says. “This is how we ladies treat ourselves,” she quips.
Upper East Side restaurant manager Lyana Kozhaeva agrees that a day at the Spa Castle is indeed a treat.
“This was a Christmas gift from my friend,” says Kozhaeva, who glistened after leaving the gold sauna and a 50-minute long, $155 massage. And now I am going to take my other friends, so I can come back. I wish I didn’t have to leave, but I have to go to work.”
Ladagana and Estill, who sweated alongside her in the sauna, were in no rush to leave.
“And now,” Ladagana says, “We’re going to the pool for an ice-cold Stella.”