The unique Vail home belonging to author and integrative-medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil is on the market.
Weil, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, is not leaving the Tucson area, he said Tuesday. He's just downsizing and buying a home in Tucson.
"It was a very hard decision. I love it. But when I moved there 15 years ago, I had a big family. Now I'm by myself," Weil said. "Also, the drive is far, and I'm more and more involved in the Center for Integrative Medicine. I really want to live closer to town."
Weil, considered a pioneer in integrative medicine, is hoping for the right buyer.
"I really want to find somebody who loves the X9 as much as I do. It's a really great space," he said.
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His South X9 Ranch property, southeast of Tucson, includes 85 acres, 11,000 square feet of living and work space, a swimming pool, home theater, stone labyrinth, a fancy adult-sized treehouse, a 40-by-40-foot greenhouse and 11 bedrooms.
The property, which sits on Rincon Creek, includes hiking trails and natural pools for swimming. It has a 4,300-square-foot main house, four guest houses and two offices.
The price for the whole property is $3.25 million, but buyers have an option of purchasing 43 acres and just some of the dwellings for $2.5 million, said Peter Deluca of Realty Executives.
"It's got drop-dead views. I think it's a good deal," Deluca said, adding that he's had several inquiries in the past 10 days.
There's plenty of information available to potential buyers, including a Web site advertising the property, complete with pictures of Weil on various parts of it.
Weil has spent the past 30 years developing, practicing and teaching others about the principles of integrative medicine and natural health.
Integrative medicine refers to healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person - body, mind and spirit - while making use of both conventional and alternative medicine.
In 1994, Weil founded the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. The center trains health professionals to apply the principles of integrative medicine and natural health.
He has lived in the Tucson area for more than 30 years, since a wheel bearing on his car broke in Tucson when he was on his way to Mexico to deliver a baby. It took six weeks to fix - long enough for him to see the Sonoran Desert bloom after a warm, wet winter and to fall in love with it.
see it yourself
To see Dr. Andrew Weil's ranch and details of the offering, go online to www.andrewweilx9ranchtucson.com/
Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or sinnes@azstarnet.com