See how a vacant government office was turned into a luxury spa in the Washington, DC, suburbs

Stephanie Chon's father, Steve Chon — also known as the "Queens spa king" — owns the C.Castle Group, which operates multiple spas, including a popular Korean spa in Queens, New York, called Spa Castle.

Steve and Stephanie Chon, who is C.Castle's chief operating officer, and Steve's brothers, who were coowners of C.Castle, were all indicted on criminal tax-fraud charges in 2017. The state charges against Steve and Stephanie were later dropped, while Steve's brother, Daniel Chon, pleaded guilty. Steve Chon pleaded guilty to federal tax-evasion charges in 2022. 

The Chons were about to close on a property near the SEC building in 2015 when they were approached by the SEC building's owner, who was looking to sell. The building had been vacant since 2013. 

Despite the property being double the size of what they were planning to purchase, Stephanie Chon said that the owner "really hooked us on the government build-out of it, the infrastructure, from the parking lot to just the infrastructure of the building itself." 

The location — in the heart of the Northern Virginia suburbs and a 20-minute drive from DC — also made sense, Stephanie Chon said. It helped that the area has a diverse population of "high-stress" people looking for a place to relax, she added. 

Chon's father bought the 11-acre property for $9.75 million in 2016, and Stephanie Chon rents the space from C.Castle.

It took more than a year for Chon to get a special-use permit from the county that would allow her to turn the building into a health club. 

In 2020, the Chons took on the renovation without the team of employees they'd relied on for other projects. 

"We used to have a team of engineers, a team of architects, and a team of designers helping us with every project and then COVID hits," Chon said. "My father, being the entrepreneur he is, was losing his mind being shut down. He was like, 'You know what, I'm just gonna start demoing this building.'"

Stephanie Chon said her idea for a facility with a "medley" of spa elements was inspired by her travels in Bali, Germany, and Hawaii. She wanted to focus on wellness programming, including meditation and other classes taught by experts. 

She said they've managed to distract visitors from the building's old corporate features with an Indonesian gate at the entrance and other decorative features. 

Chon said Balian Springs wouldn't have come about if it weren't for the pandemic. The social isolation and mental-health impacts of COVID inspired her to create a wellness retreat — something that was more social and community-focused than her family's other spas.

"I was struggling severely with my mental health and from having to have hard conversations with layoffs and, of course, the business and financial pressures. I was, for the first time in my life, seeking self-care," Chon said. "The whole world was screaming that they needed some sort of outlet and that self-care was not a luxury anymore — it really was a priority."

The club, which opened last fall, took longer and was more expensive to renovate than either Stephanie Chon or her father had anticipated, largely because of COVID-related complications.

"It was hard. It was a huge risk — logistics, getting in certain materials, the premiums that we were paying — it was just wild," she said. "At that time, shipping costs and freight costs were exorbitant." 

In addition to the 100,000-square-foot wellness center, the property has another 50,000 square feet of office space. Chon said renovating that additional space "is going to be phase two of our development."

Chon and her father aren't done with ambitious construction projects. C.Castle Group has bought 400 acres in the Poconos and is planning to turn that into a resort for extended vacations.