• NextMetropolis
  • Posts
  • The Trillion-Dollar Wellness Real Estate Boom, The Boring Company Keeps Digging, Korea Mobilizes Housing Supply, NYC Bets Big on Casinos

The Trillion-Dollar Wellness Real Estate Boom, The Boring Company Keeps Digging, Korea Mobilizes Housing Supply, NYC Bets Big on Casinos

Author

Editorial Staff
February 09, 2026

 

Catch up on what’s new and next in urban development around the world.

You Should Know

  • Natural gas generates roughly 40–45% of U.S. electricity, more than any other fuel. Most new dispatchable (on-demand) power capacity being planned is gas-fired. A surge in data center–driven electricity demand has created one of the worst gas turbine manufacturing bottlenecks in decades, pushing new power plant lead times toward five years. 

  • Courts have reversed Trump’s attempts to stall America’s biggest infrastructure and wind energy projects: funding was restored for the critical $16B Hudson Gateway Tunnel, and all five offshore wind stop-work orders were halted — returning 5 of 5 projects to construction.

  • The era of building entire Olympic cities from scratch is fading. For the 2026 Winter Olympics, Milan is relying on roughly 85% existing or temporary infrastructure. After decades of overspending and “white elephant” venues, host cities now prioritize reuse and legacy planning.

Worth Watching

Top Stories

The Therme Dallas wellness resort currently under development.

The Trillion-Dollar Wellness Real Estate Boom

The wellness real estate market is booming. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the sector has doubled in value since 2019 to an estimated $548 billion in 2024 and is projected to approach $1.1 trillion by 2029. Over the past five years, the market has expanded roughly 20% annually, far outpacing overall construction activity and positioning it among the fastest-growing segments of the global property market.

Wellness real estate refers to properties and communities designed, built, and operated to support the holistic health and well-being of residents and visitors. Advances in longevity science increasingly influence wellness architecture and community planning, shaping environments that promote physical, mental, and social health.

Key design attributes typically include:

  • Biophilic design — integrating nature through gardens, walking trails, and water features.

  • Indoor environmental quality — enhancing air and water purification, natural daylight, and circadian lighting systems.

  • Wellness infrastructure — providing fitness facilities, meditation spaces, spas, and access to healthy food.

Two categories of wellness real estate are attracting significant investment: wellness resorts/destination retreats and master-planned wellness residential communities.

Wellness resorts function as immersive environments where thermal bathing, nature, and social spaces converge to create destinations centered on physical and mental restoration. Rather than serving as occasional spa experiences, these resorts support repeat wellness rituals at scale, positioning health and leisure as forms of shared public infrastructure.

Wellness residential communities increasingly blend hospitality and housing. Developers borrow resort-style features to create integrated lifestyle ecosystems. Health infrastructure, from recovery spaces to sleep-focused layouts, is becoming as fundamental to residential design as kitchens, rather than a luxury add-on. These communities also prioritize walkability, access to green space, and social gathering areas.

Certification is emerging as an important trust signal in this market. Standards such as the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL certification operate similarly to sustainability frameworks like LEED, providing measurable benchmarks that validate health-focused design strategies.

Wellness premiums are real. Developers in some markets report premiums in the 10–25% range, reflecting strong demand for homes that align with lifestyle and longevity priorities.

Several headline projects illustrate how wellness real estate is scaling globally:

  • Jubilee Wellness Community — a 1,600+ acre master-planned wellness development delivering over 5,000 homes, 30 acres of parks, and more than 270 acres of green space over a 12-year build cycle.

  • Sobha Sanctuary — an 860-acre Dubai master community featuring a 6-kilometer lagoon and central park, with approximately 20,000 homes targeted for completion by 2029 as part of a $14 billion wellness-focused development.

  • Therme Dallas — an approximately $800 million, 450,000-sq-ft indoor-outdoor wellness resort on 24 acres centered on thermal bathing, recreation, and nature.

  • Therme Manchester — a roughly $600 million resort planned as the U.K.’s largest wellness destination, targeting around 1.7 million visitors per year.

The Boring Company’s Progress Beneath Cities

The Boring Company is moving to upend the economics of major transit infrastructure. Founded by Elon Musk, the company argues that congestion is best relieved by moving transportation underground. Instead of traditional rail systems that require years of planning and billions in funding, it proposes small-diameter tunnel networks built for high-frequency, point-to-point travel.

The Boring Company aims to lower construction costs by rethinking how tunnels are designed, built, and operated. A major driver of savings is tunnel size. Instead of large subway tunnels built to accommodate trains and evacuation walkways, the company constructs narrower tunnels optimized for electric vehicles, reducing excavation volume, material use, and construction time.

At the center of the company’s engineering strategy is its Prufrock tunnel boring machine program, which is designed to dramatically increase tunneling speed while lowering total project costs — targeting excavation rates of more than one mile per week and an “all-in” Loop tunnel cost of under $8 million per mile. These machines are engineered for near-continuous operation, minimizing the stoppages that traditionally slow projects and drive up labor expenses.

Electric vehicles further simplify infrastructure requirements by eliminating the need for extensive ventilation systems. Station design follows the same efficiency-driven philosophy, with compact, modular stops that avoid the massive excavation required for conventional underground terminals.

The company’s projects are advancing across multiple cities:

  • Dubai — The Boring Company signed an agreement last week to build the Dubai Loop, its first tunneling project outside the U.S. The $154 million pilot phase will cover about four miles with four stations linking key districts and capacity for roughly 13,000 daily passengers. The full build-out would cost about $545 million and deliver a 14-mile, 19-station network.

  • Las Vegas — The Vegas Loop remains the company’s flagship deployment. It is anchored by the operational 2.1-mile LVCC Loop at the Las Vegas Convention Center, built for approximately $47 million. Clark County and the City of Las Vegas have approved an eventual build-out of up to 68 miles of tunnels and 104 stations serving the Strip, downtown, stadium areas, and — ultimately — Harry Reid International Airport. Expansion timelines continue to evolve as permitting and construction progress.

  • Nashville — The proposed Music City Loop would create an approximately 10-mile tunnel connection between downtown Nashville and Nashville International Airport. The initial segment is expected to cost up to $300 million. Most permits have been approved and equipment is staged, with tunneling anticipated once final regulatory clearance is secured, targeting early 2027 operations.

Korea Mobilizes Prime Land Supply to Fight Housing Crunch, Especially for Young Buyers

South Korea — particularly the Greater Seoul region — faces a persistent mismatch between where people want to live and how much housing is available. Although the country’s shrinking population is widely discussed, housing pressure in the Seoul metropolitan area remains acute. The region continues to attract residents with its concentration of jobs, education, and higher-income opportunities, keeping demand elevated even as national demographics shift.

In response, the government is moving to add 60,000 new homes across Greater Seoul in an effort to cool an overheated housing market by unlocking strategically located land. The policy logic is straightforward: increasing supply in high-demand areas should ease price pressure and stabilize the market. Rather than creating entirely new cities, the strategy focuses on delivering housing where demand is already strongest.

The plan specifically targets young people and newly formed households, reflecting concerns about affordability, delayed family formation, and broader social stability. Policymakers aim to moderate price escalation, improve access for younger buyers, signal a long-term commitment to supply, and reduce speculative pressure.

To achieve this, the initiative concentrates on central, high-demand districts and underutilized public land, including government and military-owned sites with strong transit and employment access. The development spans Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, covering a total area of 4.9 million square meters.

Seoul will receive the largest share, with 32,000 units, followed by 28,000 in Gyeonggi and about 100 in Incheon. Yongsan-gu represents a key focus, with plans for 13,501 homes. Within the Yongsan International Business District, housing capacity will increase to 10,000 units, up from an earlier 6,000-unit proposal following revisions such as higher floor area ratios. Additional supply will come from redeveloping Taereung Country Club into approximately 6,800 homes, repurposing the Gwacheon racecourse and a nearby Defense Counterintelligence Command site for roughly 9,800 units, and lifting greenbelt restrictions in Seongnam to deliver about 6,300 homes. Military-owned land, including an Air Force base in Seoul’s Geumcheon-gu and a site in Namyangju, will also contribute to the pipeline.

Ministries plan to coordinate facility relocations and begin preparatory work by 2027. However, with construction scheduled between 2027 and 2030, much of the supply will arrive later in the decade.

Hard Rock Casino in Queen’s proposed Metropolitan Park.

New York City Bets Big on Full-Scale Casinos

The first full-scale commercial casinos are coming to New York City, marking a major shift in how the state approaches urban gambling.

In December 2025, the New York State Gaming Commission approved three casino licenses for projects in Queens and the Bronx, clearing the way for Las Vegas–style integrated resorts — with live dealer gaming, entertainment venues, and hotels — to operate in NYC for the first time.

Notably, none of the approved projects are in Manhattan. Several high-profile proposals there failed during the early community review phase, including Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen plans backed by Silverstein Properties, Caesars, and SL Green, after local advisory committees raised concerns.

NYC is not new to gambling. Resorts World New York City in Queens has long operated as a racino offering slot machines and electronic table games tied to horse racing. However, racinos are limited in scope. The newly approved licenses introduce full casino gaming alongside hotels and entertainment amenities, significantly expanding the city’s gaming landscape.

The Resorts World expansion marks the most immediate evolution of an existing gaming hub. Genting Group, the Malaysian multinational behind the Resorts World brand, plans roughly $5.5 billion in redevelopment at the Aqueduct site, creating a fully integrated resort with an estimated 500,000-square-foot gaming floor, up to 6,000 slot machines, around 800 table games, and 2,000 hotel rooms. Plans also include a 7,000-seat arena, several dining venues, and public amenities, with construction phased over several years.

In Queens, near Citi Field, Metropolitan Park is proposed as an $8 billion mixed-use casino and entertainment district led by a partnership involving Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International. The project would convert roughly 50 acres of parking lots into a destination combining hotels, a 5,600-seat performance venue, restaurants, retail space, and substantial new public parkland. Supporters position the development as both a tourism anchor and a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization.

In the Bronx, Bally’s Bronx Casino Resort would anchor redevelopment at Ferry Point with an estimated $2.3 billion investment. Plans call for a roughly 500,000-square-foot casino floor featuring thousands of gaming machines and hundreds of table games, paired with a 507-room hotel, a 2,000-seat event center, parking facilities, and retail space. Bally’s frames the project as an economic catalyst focused on job creation, waterfront activation, and long-term community investment.

Big Deals

Extra Reads