Nestled within the beautiful high Sonoran desert-scape of Carefree, the Carefree Resort has provided relaxation and calm for its guests for over 50 years. With the recent purchase by CIVANA, a sustainable wellness company, and under the leadership of former Canyon Ranch president Kevin Kelly, the property has undergone a multi-million dollar transformation into a destination wellness resort and recently launched as CIVANA Carefree in March of 2018.
At the heart of this initiative, with authentic wellbeing at the core of its offerings, are various pillars that form the foundation of its mission – Nutrition, Movement, Spa and Enrichment. The newly remodeled restaurant, Terras, is an all-day dining outlet about “choice”, offering a variety of menu selection that include nutritionally balanced dishes along with more traditional plates, indulgent desserts and fine wines. A second dining outlet, Café Meto, is a courtyard café offering a calorically portioned and nutritionally sourced, plant-based, flavorful menu with many gluten-free, grain free, vegetarian, vegan, anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly options that include breakfast and lunch bowls, wraps, locally roasted coffees, hand-crafted smoothies and freshly squeezed juices.
Of the previous 32,000 square feet of conference space, two-thirds were repurposed for a state-of-the-art fitness facility, a yoga energy center and a current 6-room healing arts spa. This will be replaced in the fall with a new 22,000 square foot sustainable facility called Spa CIVANA, complete with 29-treatment rooms, indoor thermal pools, an outdoor Watsu pool and lap pool equipped with solar and water harvesting. Guests will also be treated to a daily schedule of 8-12 complimentary movement, fitness and enrichment classes that include all forms of yoga, like aerial and wall, meditation, spinning, sound bath, angel card readings, art, and juicing – to name a few. Additionally, the resort shuttle will offer daily rides to the various hiking spots within the area.
All of the above is supported with an “uncluttered” look integrated in the design of spaces and by restoring the mid-century theme of simplicity and the connection of the outdoor (nature) with the indoor. Designed to enhance the wellbeing focus of the property by carefully balancing a more natural subtle palette with real materials and de-emphasizing the focus from the TV with views and light from the outdoors. The dining outlets offer romantic settings as well as shared communal tables. The 23-acre property will have carefully curated outdoor spaces like the new yoga lawn with views of the Continental mountain range.
“At every touchpoint, we want our guests to walk away feeling better than they were before”, states CIVANA CEO Kevin Kelly. With this remarkable setting, millennials and seasoned travelers alike will find themselves flocking to this tranquil escape.
CIVANA, LLC is a hospitality and real estate company founded in 2017 by best in class wellness and hospitality leaders, real estate developers and entrepreneurs who originated the sustainable wellness position by connecting individual wellbeing to the continuum of community and planetary health – “wellness through oneness”.
