More than 170 years ago, Henry David Thoreau set out into the Massachusetts woods to experience life away from civilization. He chopped down pines to build a one-room home and chronicled his life near Walden Pond in a book that’s become part of American history.

Now, a New York real estate management company is hoping technology executives will jump at the chance to live near Monterey in what it bills as a modern-day Walden. But there’s no pond. No cheap, tiny house. And no getting away from the Internet.

The property, called Walden Monterey, reflects just how eager developers are to target the nouveau riche of Silicon Valley. Wealthy technologists, the thinking goes, will gladly drive well over an hour to spend weekends in the oak-filled hills of the Monterey Peninsula, where Walden Monterey is selling lots averaging 15 acres for around $5 million. It’s closer than the Napa and Sonoma Wine Country, and also than Carmel — though that has a minor amenity known as the ocean.

Building a house on the lot may cost in the neighborhood of $5 million extra, estimates architect Olle Lundberg, who is not involved in the project.

“They are aiming pretty high,” said Lundberg, whose firm helped design Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters and also worked on a huge pool in the Napa Valley for Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Any tech executives interested in Walden Monterey, he said, would “need to own some serious stock, and they would need to be able to cash out some of it.”

Nick Jekogian, CEO of Signature Group Investments, the real estate company that bought Walden Monterey last year, believes tech workers with young families want large pieces of land in the woods.

Jekogian’s firm first envisioned the 609-acre property as having villa-style homes with access to a golf course. Then, at the suggestion of a construction manager, Jekogian camped out on the property. The first couple of nights, he couldn’t muster the courage to sleep outside his truck. But finally he got into a tent.

“I really started realizing the value of this property,” said Jekogian, a Manhattanite. “The value of the property is the grove of a thousand trees we’re looking at.” As his team brainstormed a new name for the property, one compared Jekogian’s camp-out to Thoreau’s sojourn. Thus Walden Monterey was born — with a sunrise yoga platform and room for 22 homes. (For any would-be Thoreaus who also golf, there’s relatively quick access to Clint Eastwood’s Tehama course in Carmel.)

Jekogian intends the homes to have a net-zero impact on the environment, with renewable energy and minimal tree loss. The development will be gated. (“We need the tonic of wildness,” Thoreau wrote in “Walden.”)

He’s invited architects, builders and artists to experience the land in yurts and nighttime conversations warmed by heat lamps.

In a recent outing, a handful of people — artists, developers and others — feasted on fish and sipped wine and watermelon juice, as they discussed the property. One attendee asked if residents could have raised gardens. (Probably, Jekogian said.) Buyers will also have access to the nearby Tehama property’s pool, fitness center and golf clubhouse.

“I wouldn’t say it’s in the spirit of Walden,” Lundberg said. “I think civilization will be very close, and every amenity will probably be available.”

Other nearby properties that cater to wealthy people have smaller lots selling for less. For example, a 2.7-acre lot in Monterra with a view of Monterey Bay is selling for $1.5 million. A 16.4-acre lot in Tehama is selling for $3.5 million.

This fall, a builder is expected to close on an 8-acre lot in the $3 million range, according to Walden Monterey, which expects larger lots to go for higher sums.

Back to Gallery Developers tout ‘Walden’ property to woo Silicon... 4 1 of 4 Photo: Nic Coury, Special to the Chronicle 2 of 4 Photo: Nic Coury, Special to the Chronicle 3 of 4 Photo: Nic Coury, Special to the Chronicle 4 of 4 Photo: Axelrod Architects







UC Berkeley Assistant Professor Carolina Reid, who has done research on affordable housing, said that catering to elite groups reflects the growing inequality in the Bay Area.

“If you were to increase the density of housing on that land, you would do a lot to improve housing supply in that county and housing affordability in that county,” Reid said.

As the area continues to grow with a new generation of wealthy tech executives, there will be companies eager to reach that market with high-end properties, analysts said. Walden Monterey could work if it can attract a tech executive who can pull in friends to buy into the development, Lundberg said.

Irit Axelrod, an architect who has designed a conceptual glass home for Walden Monterey, says part of the beauty of the property is that it is not dense housing. The 22 lots are surrounded by so many trees that neighbors don’t see each other — though of course modern technology means that everyone is just a text away.

“We’re going off the grid, but we are keeping the ability to stay connected,” Axelrod said.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee