Thirty years ago, John Wayne, America's hero, climbed atop a rise overlooking the handsome Santa Cruz Valley in Arizona near the Mexican border and envisioned building a huge compound for his family there.
The 4,200-foot rise, known as Duke's Hill, is the highest point of Wayne's 670-acre spread of Sonoran Desert, just six miles from Nogales, Sonora, one of the actor's favorite haunts.But Wayne died in 1979 before he could start building on his 100-acre hill. His partner and longtime friend, Ralph Wingfield, 89, said the scenic land was never developed because "John got sick and I got too old."
Now the spread, adjacent to the Nogales International Airport, is for sale for $2.3 million, put on the market in October by the actor's sons, Michael and Ethan.
When the ranch sells, it will be the last of the Wayne land legacy in Arizona, which served as the landscape for some of the actor's he-man movies.
Wayne's ranch near Springerville is owned by the Hopi Tribe. Another of his spreads near Casa Grande is in a trust and was the proposed site of a war museum.
Lou Perna, a Scottsdale Realtor specializing in luxury properties, is handling the latest sale, which has prompted stories in the Wall Street Journal and a two-page spread in the duPont Registry, a national real estate publication featuring upscale properties.
Development at neighboring Kino Springs golf community -- once a working ranch belonging to Wayne friends, actors Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons -- prompted the Wayne brothers to sell the property, Perna said.
A prospective buyer from Denver is coming this month, and if he's amenable, Perna will take him through the property on horseback and let him climb up Duke's Hill for a glimpse of the cottonwoods lining the Santa Cruz River.
Surrounded by $5 million working ranches, the Wayne land could morph into a development of single-family homes or a resort.
"I see lots of opportunities," Perna said.