You couldn’t do this anywhere but Detroit.
That’s how Jacques Driscoll describes Islandview Sauna Club, the outdoor gathering space he, his wife Christine, and partners Tamas and Gail von Staden recently opened on Detroit’s east side.
Part of that comes down to place. The 4.5-acre wooded site along the former Iron Belle Railroad has been transformed into an outdoor destination with wood-fired saunas, cold plunge tubs, a fire pit and gathering spaces – with plenty of room for whatever comes next. But Driscoll believes the project also reflects something uniquely Detroit: a city where both the landscape and the creative community leave room for ideas to evolve.
That philosophy has shaped Islandview from the beginning. What started as one piece of a much larger hospitality vision has become an experiment in creating a place where people spend time together and enjoy being present. The sauna experience may be what brings people through the gate, but for the owners, the bigger idea has always been about creating a place people want to linger.
The project grew out of conversations the two couples had while imagining what the property could become. The long-term vision originally included a boutique hospitality destination, but rather than waiting years for every piece to come together, they decided to begin with the sauna experience and allow the rest to develop over time.
ISLANDVIEW SAUNA
“We had this bigger dream of a boutique hotel with A-frames, a restaurant and saunas,” Driscoll said. “Then we went to a sauna festival in Minneapolis and became fascinated with that side of it. We had already bought the land, so we thought, ‘Let’s start here.'”
That decision set the tone for the entire project.
Rather than following a rigid master plan, Islandview has largely been shaped by the property itself. Existing trees determined where structures would sit. A simple opening in the woods became the natural gathering space. Even small challenges, like a trailer that couldn’t make a turn because of a tree, led the team to rethink the layout instead of forcing the landscape to fit the design.
“It was intentional, but not overthought,” Driscoll said. “Sometimes the land does the work.”
That mindset extends beyond the physical space.
Through restaurants and bars including Green Dot Stables, Johnny Noodle King, Kiesling Detroit and Yellow Light Coffee & Donuts, the partners have spent years thinking about why some places simply feel good to be in.
“People often can’t explain exactly why they love a particular space,” he said. It’s usually the accumulation of small details like the lighting, the music, the layout, the energy and, maybe most importantly, the people who choose to spend time there.
“We design places that we want to be,” he said.
Islandview was intentionally created to encourage that kind of experience. Guests move between the saunas, cold plunge tubs and an outdoor gathering space without the distractions that often define everyday life.
“You’re outside. You don’t have your phone because of the heat and the water,” Driscoll said. “You’re forced to be present and interact.”
ISLANDVIEW SAUNA
What has surprised him most isn’t how quickly people embraced the sauna experience, but how naturally the space has become a place for conversation.
He’s watched neighbors walk over wearing robes, visitors drive in from across southeast Michigan and strangers becoming friends and exchanging phone numbers.
“I’ve had some of the best conversations with random people,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to talk about.”
Those interactions reinforce what the partners hoped to create – a place where the experience extends well beyond the sauna itself.
“There aren’t many businesses designed for people to linger anymore,” Driscoll said, reflecting on how many restaurants, coffee shops and other gathering places have become increasingly transactional. “For us, it’s about hospitality. It’s about creating a space where people are happy to be.”
That sense of possibility is also why he believes Islandview belongs in Detroit.
The city offered the land, the industrial character and the freedom to experiment in ways that would have been difficult in other cities. Just as important, he said, Detroit has a creative culture that embraces projects like this.
“People tell us it feels like you’re Up North,” Driscoll said. “Other people say it feels like Detroit 15 years ago.”
He sees both as compliments. “It’s got that DIY feeling,” he said. “It’s not over-manicured.”
That also means Islandview is far from finished.
The partners regularly talk about what comes next – whether that’s new trails through the woods, an ice skating rink, archery, or something they haven’t imagined yet. Rather than working toward a fixed endpoint, they’re allowing the project to grow alongside the community that’s beginning to form around it.
“We’re always asking, ‘What can we do to make this place more special?'” Driscoll said. “The fun part is we don’t really know. We get to keep building.”
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