photo by James Kruger courtesy of Anda
the lobby at hotel ivy
photo by James Kruger
It’s been almost a year since Hotel Ivy announced it would close its popular spa and spend $2.5 million to renovate. Fret not! The 17,000-square-foot space has been gutted from corner to corner and will reopen on August 1 with a new name: Anda.
“Anyone who came to the Ivy Spa Club will think they are in an entirely new space,” says spa director LeAnne Erickson, a Wisconsin native who moved back to the Midwest after running spas around the world.
With crystal healing at the core of Anda’s mission, it’s only fitting that a 68-pound rose-quartz crystal from Madagascar greets each guest upon arrival. During the space’s development phase, renowned crystal shaman Colleen McCann visited the construction site to channel its energy and embed custom crystals in the walls and ceiling to promote healing for those who enter.
And then there’s the front desk, perhaps Anda’s crown jewel: a custom installation by Le Sueur–based Cambria. Fabricated of clear quartz and obsidian, it’s also filled with citrine, a crystal believed to foster inspiration, self-improvement, and healing.
In the treatment rooms, crystals serve to energize each facial, body wrap, and bath. Take the Gemstone Rebalancing Facial, for example. It’s a treatment that uses rose-quartz and white-jade gemstone rollers to address skin inflammation (which, according to Erickson, is the primary cause of premature aging).
Before each treatment, guests are also encouraged to choose a crystal (or two, or three) from Anda’s assembly of rough-cut gems to hold or just keep in the room. “Everyone has a bespoke response to crystals,” says Erickson. “We help align guests with something more energy-related and based on areas of concern.”
photo by James Kruger
Relaxation area at the spa
Spa junkies will appreciate Anda’s pre-treatment relaxation room, where they can take a sensory journey to identify what Anda calls their “alchemy.” Guests smell a variety of apothecary bottles that represent four different rituals—chill, reboot, meditate, and inspire. What they choose sets the tone for their treatment and helps create a multisensory experience, combining touch, smell, and sight. “We’ve created these rituals to envelop the spirit and honor physical, mental, and spiritual well-being,” says Erickson.
Spa services range from facials and body rituals—massages, foot therapy, and body wraps—to baths, soaks, manis, and pedis. Prices run the gamut from a $50 bubble bath (infused with lavender and Earl Grey tea) to a $120 massage or a $260 HydraFacial. People looking to make a day out of it may consider the “ultimate zen”—a treatment that includes a hydrating scrub, wrap, hot oil scalp ritual, and moisture-infused shea butter massage—capped off with a sweet-birch magnesium bath soak.
Other upgrades include a new “water rituals area” that boasts a sauna bath, showers (equipped with different pressure points, temperatures, and color therapies), and a quartz-lined sauna made of obsidian with gold inlay. A post-treatment meditation room (AKA the “aura lounge”) is designed for those on a spa high who need some time to come back to earth before returning to the real world.
photo by James Kruger
Interior of a retail space at the spa
The Ivy has also added a grab-and-go café filled with local brands (think: Isadore nuts, Northstar Kombucha, and Blackeye Roasting coffee) and a reimagined nail salon and retail area. Plus, a 5,000-square-foot fitness center gives Ivy guests a chance to break a pre-pampering sweat on the Peloton.
201 S. 11th St., Mpls., 612-746-4600
