Silicon Valley VC exec behind record listing in famous coastal enclave

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist is out to disrupt pricing standards in the famous coastal enclave of Big Sur.

And Bob Pavey’s ask on an oceanfront property in the shape of an airplane wing might take Big Sur sales to new heights: $35 million for the 109-acre estate that sits between two parks.

Properties in the coastal Monterey County town south of Carmel have sold for north of $30 million in the past, according to agent Mike Gilson of Coldwell Banker, who is listing the estate with Ben Heinrich.

But $35 million is “the biggest listing that we know of,” he said.

A nearby oceanfront property with 80 acres sold for $11 million last fall, but Gilson said there are really no comparable listings for 46400 Clear Ridge Rd, which has protected open space on either side, its own beach with a nearby site to potentially build a beach house, a redwood forest and over three miles of private trails.

“This property is like owning your own private park,” he said via email. “We are unaware of another property with the offerings of this listing.”

The 2,800-square-foot airplane-wing-shaped home also sets the listing apart; it was designed by Mickey Muennig, who has been called “the man who built Big Sur” for the impact his nature-focused designs that blend into the rugged landscape have had on the coastal town, located along a particularly winding and often-windy section of Route 1.

“The property required an architect with ingenuity to build a home that worked with the land,” Gilson said. “Mickey Muennig’s talent for building with the land enables the homeowners to enjoy the views and the beauty of the landscape. Also, Mickey embodied the Big Sur lifestyle, which was important to the homeowner.”

Muennig died last year and the 2004 three-bedroom, three-bath with a sod roof, polished concrete floors and walls of ocean-fronting windows was one of his last designs, current owner Pavey told the Wall Street Journal.

The venture capitalist––who is managing partner of Morgenthaler Ventures and splits his time between the the firm’s office in the Sharon Height section of Menlo Park and it’s headquarters in Cleveland––said he was hiking with his wife, Trisha, in the late 1990s when they stumbled upon the vacant lot. They bought the land for less than $1 million and were told by contractors it would be difficult, but not impossible, to build on.

He enlisted Muennig, who is perhaps best known for designing the 39-room Post Ranch Inn, where a stay in a treehouse-inspired suite or curved cliffside room can cost upwards of $4,000 a night. The architect spent a day at the Clear Ridge site before divining the airplane wing design, Pavey said, which took about seven years of planning and construction and around ​​$5 million to build. In 2005, the Paveys also spent another $4 million buying additional adjoining land.

Pavey told the WSJ he is selling the Big Sur property because it is too much to upkeep as he and his wife get older, and with both of their daughters on the East Coast they no longer come west as often as they did. Pavey said a portion of the sale proceeds will be donated to Cleveland Foundation, a grant organization in the Ohio city.

“I was lucky enough to get into the venture-capital business in Cleveland and I want to help people around Cleveland,” he said.

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