TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The landmark 3.1-acre glass terrarium that anchors the Biosphere 2 property north of Tucson may be torn down to improve views for new luxury homes planned on the property.

Developer Fairfield Homes has a contract to buy the 1,600-acre site that’s home to the famed ecological experiment and plans to build a community with $300,000 homes on lots of at least an acre.

Fairfield Homes chief executive David Williamson said developing the property for profit may mean tearing down some of the 70 buildings that make up the Biosphere 2 site, including the large glass structure where eight ‘‘biospherians’’ spent two years in the early 1990s.

‘‘We’ve been looking at the Biosphere and been trying to integrate. There’s probably no way of making those building code requirements work, so we’re probably going to be shutting that down,’’ Williamson said. ‘‘If there’s anything we can save and utilize, we’ll save it.’’

The land had been owned by Decisions Investments, whose president, Texas billionaire Ed Bass, spent more than $200 million building Biosphere 2 as a self-sustaining environment for humans.

Columbia University began managing the complex in 1996 and later pledged to expand research and programs there. But Columbia pulled out in 2003, as part of a lawsuit settlement with Decisions Investments.

A year ago, Decisions announced that the campus and surrounding land were for sale.

The facility is perfect for studying global climate changes because it is designed for research into ‘‘carbon cycling,’’ the process where carbon is absorbed and redistributed in the environment, according to Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the University of Arizona’s College of Science.

But Ruiz said shortcomings in the sealed design of the Biosphere 2 meant not all factors could be controlled, and he also noted that it was ‘‘extraordinarily expensive to run’’ so he’s not surprised that the property is being developed.

‘‘The story now is that it’s going to be a bunch of houses,’’ Ruiz said. ‘‘Does it have scientific merit? The answer to that is there were a few things that this facility could do better than any other place, but that the experiments were really, really expensive.’’