Fountain Day Spa & Salon to open around Christmas

by Paul Flemming

SBJ Staff

Ty and Kimberly Morgan want to pamper Springfieldians on their way to success. Fountain Day Spa & Salon, a $2 million project at 2609 E. Sunshine, is expected to open around Christmas.

The business' new, 10,000-square-foot building will go up at the corner of Oak Grove and Sunshine. Lee McLean Jr. owns the land and is constructing the building on the site that has, in years past, been a restaurant.

Gray General Contractors is the builder for the project designed by Jack D. Ball and Associates Architects.

"This is not your run-of-the-mill project," said Chris Ball, the architect for the building. "This has a higher concentration of nice features. The spa equipment is all top-of-the-line ... and we wanted to try to carry that through with our finishes."

Ball said application for full building permits will be submitted the week of Aug. 31.

Ty Morgan said the new enterprise has been planned for four years. His research indicated Springfield is the largest market in the country without a full-service spa. Ty Morgan is president of Fountain Investors Inc.

"This will be like no other salon you've ever seen unless you travel to New York, Los Angeles or Miami," Morgan said.

The business will cater to a range of customers. "This is not an exclusive place," Morgan said. "This is a place where (someone can) drop 400 bucks on a beauty package or working people can come in and get a $16 haircut." There will be no memberships for the salon and spa; it will be open to the public.

The salon will employ five stylists and rent five stations "to the best stylists in the city," Morgan said. The salon and spa will employ about 70 people at full capacity, he said, when the business runs two shifts during its 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday through Saturday operating hours.

In addition to hair, nail, makeup and facial services in the salon, the spa will offer body wraps, hydrotherapy, massage and aromatherapy among its relaxation and therapeutic services.

The building will include a child-care center complimentary to customers. "The No. 1 reason women cancel hair appointments is conflicts with their children," Morgan said.

He said he looked at leasing existing space for the venture but could not find an appropriate spot. Two years of negotiating with McLean resulted in the deal for leasing a build-to-suit facility. The 48,000-square-foot parcel of land will include 78 parking spaces with the new building.

The spa and salon's services will feature equipment with particular mechanical requirements. Morgan said the hydrotherapy tubs and showers, along with the other uses of the salon, can require up to 300 gallons of hot water per minute. "This equipment requires 1,400 percent of the plumbing of a normal business. (Existing buildings) just aren't conducive to those uses," Morgan said.

Fountain Spa & Salon will offer two six-foot hydrotherapy tubs that include 154 jets of water. And Morgan described two Vichy showers, equipment that includes seven shower heads on a six-foot arm with nozzles delivering different temperatures of water over the whole body.

He is the general manager and controller for Grove Pharmacies, a position he said he will continue on a part-time basis.

The existing building on the corner is being demolished. McLean said it was built in 1975 and housed The Steer and Stein and The Library restaurants.

McLean said the building has been vacant for six years and was used for storage during that time.

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