Juice brand founder lists $8M doomsday property in Tahoe area

Doomsday could be a lot more enjoyable if you lived on a self-sustaining property in one of California’s most beautiful forested areas. That’s the unique allure of Jackson Meadows Lodge, which rests on 10 private acres in Tahoe National Forest. After a total remodel, this “fully” off-grid home could be yours for $8 million. 

To really live off-grid, you need deep infrastructure, which Jackson Meadows Lodge supplies — along with a healthy dose of luxury. At 804 Fiberboard Road, you get both. The “main lodge,” according to the official listing, features four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, “with a private primary suite on its own level.” The center of this building is loft-like, with an open floor plan. The living room, with a large fireplace and an adjacent built-in pool table, flows directly into the well-equipped modern kitchen, allowing nearly floor-to-ceiling windows that offer views throughout the entire lower and upper floors. A metal staircase rises in a spiral from this level to the second story, where the primary suite awaits. In addition to the main lodge, there’s a separate one-bedroom, one-bath guest or caretaker’s cottage.

A true estate, Jackson Meadows Lodge features storage for all the accessories of mountain life. Pull up the rolling doors of the 2,000-square-foot shop to reveal a bar, hot tub and saunas, as well as ample storage. All of this can be enjoyed completely off-grid, thanks to a 72-panel solar array with backup battery, custom backup generator, four 1,000-gallon propane tanks (estimated to be sufficient to run the property for three years), 2,100 gallons of diesel and gas storage, a well and pump house, and a “state of the art” fire suppression system, according to the listing writeup. There are also two hookups for RVs.

The property’s seller is Eric Ethans, co-founder of the cold-pressed juice brand Suja Organic. In 2021, Suja was acquired by Paine Schwartz Partners, a private equity firm “specializing in sustainable food chain investing,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Property records show that this was the same year Ethans purchased 804 Fiberboard Road, paying $988,000 at the time. 

The property was already being advertised as “off-the grid” in 2021 — but it wasn’t functional in the way Ethans wanted it to be — so he set about an extensive remodel that exponentially increased the property’s self-sufficiency. Todd Disbrow of Engel & Völkers, the listing agent in 2021 and for this current sale, told SFGATE in an email, “The transformation from the old lodge to Eric Ethans’ Jackson Meadows Lodge is extreme. It was self-sufficient, but you were definitely roughing it out there, and it required a lot of work. The modern version is relaxing and luxurious with minimal upkeep.”

Eric Ethans explained that his goal was to increase the amount of time the property would serve as an authentic doomsday sanctuary. “I wanted to feel like I was on-grid, without having to worry how much power I was using,” he wrote in an email. Accordingly, he invested in resources that would make the property impressively resilient. “I designed the solar and battery pack to be able to handle the most snowy days, and if we have a multi-day snow storm — in just three hours with a specially designed high-altitude generator — we can replenish the battery pack, which will last another two days without sun at full power,” Ethans said. “If there’s going to be a doomsday, the experts say you just need to be able to last one to three weeks. My inspiration for building this was to be able to survive off-grid for multiple years with no outside resources.” 

Jackson Meadows Lodge enjoys a location that adds to its off-the-grid exclusivity. Situated on Coppins Meadow adjacent to Webber Lake in Sierraville, the property is roughly a 30-minute drive from Truckee and 40 minutes from the Lake Tahoe Basin. “Access in the winter is snowmobile only,” the official listing warns, but not to worry: Eric Ethans is including sleds, a snowcat and a custom Chevrolet Suburban SUV with tracks in the sale. 

When Ethans bought the property, it had a concrete helipad, which he removed to restore the meadow. There’s still plenty of room for a helicopter to land there, however, Disbrow said. “It’s heli-friendly without all that asphalt.”

Ultimately, you don’t need the world to end to enjoy this property. Whether doomsday comes or not, Jackson Meadows Lodge offers its new owner the chance to live truly off-grid.