The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage — the historic Annenberg estate that was designed for presidential retreats — will open to the public in February, the non-profit group announced today.

It will open in time for Palm Springs Modernism Week, which is slated for Feb. 16-26.

An invitation-only opening ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 12.

The Sunnylands project will repurpose the 200-acre home of the late Ambassador Walter and Leonore Annenberg into a public trust. It will reopen as a desert garden, golf course, historic house, museum and solar farm.

The Annenberg Center, which is on an adjacent 15 acres and includes a 9-acre garden, will offer free exhibits and programs to introduce visitors to Sunnylands.

When it was opened, the retreat was meant to “host small high-level retreats for the President of the United States and the Secretary of State to bring world leaders together to advance international peace and increase global understanding, among other purposes,” The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands said in a news release this afternoon.

A limited number of tickets for tours of the center, which estate as well as the new Sunnylands Center and Gardens, are available now at www.modernismweek.com.

Beginning March 1, tours of the estate and center will be available through www.sunnylands.org or by calling (760) 328-2829.