Element Binding To TreeView SelectedItem Where TreeViewItem has ItemsSource - wpf

Question

I have the following UserControl:
<UserControl x:Class="ConcreteAnalyzer.Views.CenterSectionPropertiesView"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:c="clr-namespace:ConcreteAnalyzer.Converters"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:ConcreteAnalyzer.Views"
xmlns:vm="clr-namespace:ConcreteAnalyzer.ViewModels.CenterSection"
mc:Ignorable="d">
<UserControl.Resources >
<c:DebugConverter x:Key="DebugConverter"/>
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="8"/>
<RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TreeView Grid.Row="0" x:Name="CenterSectionTree">
<TreeView.Resources>
<HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:PanViewModel}">
<TreeViewItem Header="Pan"/>
</HierarchicalDataTemplate>
</TreeView.Resources>
<TreeViewItem Header="Center Section" DataContext="{Binding CenterSection}">
<TreeViewItem Header="Front" DataContext="{Binding XPositive}" ItemsSource="{Binding Pans, Converter={StaticResource DebugConverter}}"/>
<TreeViewItem Header="Back" DataContext="{Binding XNegative}" ItemsSource="{Binding Pans}"/>
<TreeViewItem Header="Left" DataContext="{Binding YPositive}" ItemsSource="{Binding Pans}"/>
<TreeViewItem Header="Rigth" DataContext="{Binding YNegative}" ItemsSource="{Binding Pans}"/>
</TreeViewItem>
</TreeView>
<GridSplitter Grid.Row="1" Height="8" ResizeDirection="Rows" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" ResizeBehavior="PreviousAndNext">
<GridSplitter.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type GridSplitter}">
<Grid>
<Button Content="⁞" Background="Transparent" Foreground="White"/>
<Rectangle Fill="{StaticResource TurqoiseBrush}"/>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</GridSplitter.Template>
</GridSplitter >
<ContentControl Content="{Binding SelectedItem.DataContext, ElementName=CenterSectionTree, Converter={StaticResource DebugConverter}}" Grid.Row="2">
<ContentControl.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:CenterSectionViewModel}">
<TextBlock Text="Center Section"/>
</DataTemplate>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:WallViewModel}">
<TextBlock Text="Wall"/>
</DataTemplate>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:PanViewModel}">
<TextBlock Text="Pan"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ContentControl.Resources>
</ContentControl>
</Grid>
This works just fine for the Treeview items that are hard-coded but if I select one of the pans, the ElementBinding does not connect. I could change the treeview to use HiearchicalDataTemplate, but to do that I think I have to create dummy collections to bind to at each level as well as add a property to the walls so that I can tell which wall is which. Creating all that dummy info just to make the treeview work has some code smell to me.
Any thoughts on the best way to get this to work?
edit:
The reason it's not working is because when the hard-coded treeview items are selected the databinding points at the TreeViewItem itself and so I was binding to the SelectedItem.DataContext. When you select a Pan, the SelectedItem is the PanViewModel, not the TreeViewItem.
If I Try simply binding to the SelectedItem, the hard-coded TreeViewItems will not work because it tries to inject the TreeViewItem itself into a ContentControl, which throws an exception.
Binding to the SelectedItem.DataContext won't work because the PanViewModel doesn't have a DataContext. I'm still not seeing an elegant solution to this.