St. Thomas, Ontario
St. Thomas's biggest landowner is its own city hall: between 2022 and 2023 it bought more than 800 acres of farmland and annexed 600 hectares from Central Elgin to assemble the 1,500-acre Yarmouth Yards industrial park, where Volkswagen's PowerCo is building a 370-acre battery gigafactory — while the claim that Farhi Holdings owns the former Elgin County courthouse does not hold, because that building is the working provincial courthouse, restored by the province in 2011-14.
8 buildings · 7 with an owner established · 28 sources · 2 tier B · 6 tier A · prepared 2026-09-27
Can you find out who owns it?
Ontario's land registry holds the official record of ownership for more than 7.4 million parcels, and ServiceOntario states that its land registry services are only available online. A member of the public can look up who owns a parcel through OnLand, but only by paying: a copy of a parcel register costs $37.10 including HST under ServiceOntario's fee bulletin, and each additional page is $2.56. There is no bulk ownership extract, no open assessment roll (MPAC's value data sits behind three separate logins), and no price-paid dataset — a sale price exists only on the registered transfer, one parcel at a time. Nothing in a small Ontario city's ownership picture is free to establish; what is free is the council record around it.
Is ownership public?Public, but one paid search at a time
Cost of one title search$37.10 for a copy of a parcel register including the first page ($9.70 statutory + $24.25 ELRSA + $3.15 HST); $2.56 per additional page
Bulk ownership dataNone published
Sale pricesNo transaction data published
1
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elgin County Court House Wellington Street, St. Thomas |
Office | Province of Ontario (Ministry of the Attorney General) THE CLAIM TESTED, AND IT DOES NOT HOLD: the former Elgin County courthouse is not in private hands and is not vacant. The province announced on 30 October 2009 that the historic 1850s courthouse on Wellington Street would be the site of the new consolidated court facility; it was refurbished and joined to the former 1874 Land Registry Office by a modern addition, and reopened 18 March 2014 with eight courtrooms for the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. Infrastructure Ontario gives the project value as $249 million, delivered by Integrated Team Solutions (Fengate, EllisDon, NORR, SNC-Lavalin O&M) under the province's AFP model, with a maintenance obligation. |
Government | CAD $249 million 2014-03 Infrastructure Ontario project value; substantial completion 18 March 2014, financial close 15 June 2011 B |
| PowerCo Gigafactory St. Thomas Yarmouth Yards Industrial Park, Highbury Avenue at Ron McNeil Line 370 acres, six production blocks |
Industrial | PowerCo Canada Inc. (PowerCo SE, Volkswagen Group) The Globe and Mail states the plant is owned by PowerCo, a Volkswagen Group subsidiary, and will have six production blocks across 370 acres inside the city's 1,500-acre park. On 24 September 2026 PowerCo Canada named EllisDon general contractor and said operations are now expected to begin in 2029 rather than 2027, 'to accommodate next-generation battery technology' — about 60 EllisDon workers on site, ramping to roughly 1,300 at peak. Up to 90 GWh at final expansion and up to 2,500 jobs. No purchase price for the land itself appears in any record opened. |
Public company | CAD $7 billion 2026-09 investment figure for the plant as stated in the September 2026 EllisDon announcement, not a land price A |
| Yarmouth Yards Industrial Park Highbury Avenue South / Ron McNeil Line / Yarmouth Centre Road 1,500 acres |
Land | City of St. Thomas Assembled by the city with its economic development corporation: 800-plus acres bought from several private owners in 2022 (ownership to transfer 'by late summer', no expropriation), then 600 hectares annexed from Central Elgin under Bill 63, the St. Thomas - Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, 2023. Central Elgin's compensation is $10 million immediately plus $5 million over five years from 2027, a settlement the municipality valued at $75-85 million including future value. The city is building the servicing, a rail shunting yard and pumping stations inside the park; its treasurer warned in 2024 that the development 'will require St. |
Government | —A |
| Elgin Centre (formerly Elgin Mall) Wellington Street, St. Thomas 263,000 sq ft |
Retail | Not established the register is open, but this building was not matched Named reporting establishes the transaction but not the corporate owner. 'What was then Elgin Mall was purchased by a small, family-owned real estate investment company that acquired the 263,000-square-foot property in October, 2016', when it was roughly 50 per cent vacant. Ian's City Scope, interviewing the owners, identifies Jay Burstein as spokesman for the new owners and his brother Mory Burstein as the other principal. The holding entity is not named in any record opened, so no owner is entered. A zoning amendment for two 10-storey mixed-use buildings with 232 units at the southwest corner went to a public meeting on 14 September 2026. |
Not established | —A |
| Mickleborough Building 423 Talbot Street, St. Thomas |
Office | City of St. Thomas Home of Ontario Works since 2000 and, before 2017, a Farhi Holdings property that the city leased. The city manager announced the completed purchase in March 2017; the building, at Talbot and Mary streets, dates from the early 1900s and was designed by St. Thomas architect Neil Darrach. The city intended to apply to Infrastructure Ontario for financing, with payments offset by the lease payments it had been making to Farhi. |
Government | CAD $1.7 million 2017-03 appraised at $4 million; Farhi Holdings donated $2.3 million in exchange for a tax receipt and the city paid the remainder A |
| 230 Talbot Street social services and housing hub 230 Talbot Street, St. Thomas |
Mixed use | City of St. Thomas A parcel on the south side of Talbot Street between William and Queen, extending to Centre Street and including four houses on Queen Street, bought from Farhi Holdings in the same 2017 transaction as the Mickleborough Building. It was intended for a community social services hub housing Ontario Works, with possible phased affordable housing. Vicano Construction of Brantford built the hub, which the company describes as its introduction to St. Thomas. |
Government | CAD $1.4 million 2017-03 purchased from Farhi Holdings, which donated $400,000 back A |
| Former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital lands Sunset Drive area, St. Thomas / Central Elgin |
Land | Province of Ontario Still provincially held and slated for sale: Central Elgin's mayor said in 2024 that the province is working with the municipality on the future sale of the hospital lands as part of the Site Preparation Pilot Project, and that new wastewater capacity from the St. Thomas settlement will help support redeveloping the lands for residential use. Acreage and price are not stated in the records opened. |
Government | —A |
| St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital Elm Street, St. Thomas |
Institutional | St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital The hospital's own About page establishes the corporation and its catchment — the City of St. Thomas, all seven municipalities of Elgin County and three local First Nations. The city's budget includes a requested capital grant to the hospital ($2.5 million in the 2024 request). The parcel register was not searched, so the owning entity is taken from the operator's own statement of itself rather than from title. |
Institution | —B |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
No assessed value for any St. Thomas parcel is public: MPAC's per-property values sit behind AboutMyProperty, propertyline or Municipal Connect, each requiring a login. What the public record does give is the municipal aggregate, and the scale of the industrial bet. The figures below come from the city's own budget report as reported in named local coverage, and from the boundary-adjustment settlement.
Yarmouth Yards industrial park1,500 acres
City-assembled park; 800-plus acres bought 2022, 600 hectares annexed from Central Elgin in 2023. St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation and Globe and Mail, September 2026.
PowerCo plant footprint / investment370 acres / $7 billion
Globe and Mail, 1 September 2026, and PowerCo Canada's own release of 24 September 2026.
Boundary-adjustment settlement to Central Elgin$75-85 million
Central Elgin release as reported by Global News, 2024: $10 million immediately plus $5 million over five years from 2027, valued at $75-85 million including future value.
2025 municipal tax levy$74.5 million
City budget report as reported December 2024; up from just under $69 million, an 8.13 per cent increase before growth-related tax.
Forecast assessment growth, 2025$130 million
City staff forecast, equating to about $2.2 million in additional property taxes. Same budget report; the only public assessment figure found for St. Thomas.
Municipal debt per capita$780
City budget report, against an Ontario municipal average of $720; 2023 levy per capita $1,469 against an average of $1,865. The report warns Yarmouth Yards 'will require St. Thomas to take on significant debt in the next five years'.
3
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
Concentration here runs through the municipality, not through a private family. In June 2022 the City of St. Thomas and its economic development corporation announced they had assembled more than 800 acres (350+ hectares) of mostly farmland between Highbury Avenue South, Yarmouth Centre Road and Ron McNeil Line, bought by negotiation from several owners rather than by expropriation; Bill 63 then annexed 600 hectares from Central Elgin in 2023, settled for $75-85 million. That assembly is now Yarmouth Yards, and everything else — the gigafactory, the rail yard, the 67-acre private industrial parcel next door — sits inside or beside land the city bought. The Farhi holdings the town is known for are mostly holdings it used to have.
| Name | Type | Holdings |
|---|---|---|
| City of St. Thomas The city announced in June 2022 that it had reached a deal, with the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation, to buy over 800 acres in the city's northeast, with ownership to transfer 'by late summer'; Global News put the parcel at more than 350 hectares bounded by Highbury Avenue South, Yarmouth Centre Road and Ron McNeil Line. EDC chief executive Sean Dyke said expropriation was avoided and every owner negotiated. The Globe and Mail states the city acquired the Yarmouth Yards property between 2022 and 2023 and manages the infrastructure within it. No purchase price appears in any record opened. |
Government | 1,500-acre Yarmouth Yards industrial parkA |
| PowerCo Canada Inc. (PowerCo SE, Volkswagen Group) The Globe and Mail, September 2026: the gigafactory 'owned by EV battery manufacturer PowerCo, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group' will include six production blocks across 370 acres, inside the 1,500-acre Yarmouth Yards park. PowerCo's own site describes a $7-billion plant of up to 90 GWh annual capacity at final expansion, with up to 2,500 jobs and more than 200 people already hired. Site preparation was completed before vertical construction began in December 2025. |
Public company | 370 acresA |
| Vianode The Globe and Mail states that battery-materials company Vianode 'will operate on around 280 acres of the site, according to the city'. The wording is operation, not registered ownership; no transfer document was opened, so this is a stated footprint rather than an established title. |
Private company | around 280 acresB |
| Province of Ontario Reporting on the Central Elgin boundary settlement records that added wastewater capacity 'will also help support redeveloping the former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital lands for residential use', and that Central Elgin's mayor said the province is working with the municipality on the future sale of the hospital lands as part of the Site Preparation Pilot Project. Acreage is not stated in the records opened. |
Government | former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital landsA |
| Farhi Holdings Corporation What the record establishes is a seller, not a sitting landlord. In 2017 the city bought two Talbot Street properties from Farhi Holdings: the Mickleborough Building at 423 Talbot St (appraised $4 million; Farhi donated $2.3 million for a tax receipt, the city paid $1.7 million) and 230 Talbot St ($1.4 million, with $400,000 donated back). The 20-acre former railway-yard brownfield at Wilson Avenue and Elm Street 'was originally owned by London developer Shmuel Farhi, but continued to sit vacant' and has since been acquired by Drewlo Holdings. Farhi's own site claims land in more than 53 municipalities, in parcels from 9 to 900 contiguous acres. |
Family / private | past downtown holdings sold to the city in 2017; no current St. Thomas holding establishedA |
| Drewlo Holdings Named reporting from May 2026: 'Drewlo Holdings, a family-run enterprise based in London, has acquired the 20-acre site, stretching north and east of the intersection of Wilson Avenue and Elm Street', and is proposing six rental buildings with between 1,800 and 2,000 units, with full environmental remediation of what the mayor called the most contaminated field in the community. The land was previously owned by Shmuel Farhi and sat vacant. |
Family / private | 20 acres; 1,800-2,000 rental units proposedA |
| Vicano Developments Vicano Developments of Brantford closed a deal in December 2023 to buy 67 acres on the southeast corner of Highbury Avenue and Ron McNeil Line, adjacent to Yarmouth Yards but, EDC chief executive Sean Dyke confirmed, not part of the land the city assembled. Vicano is marketing space of up to 1.4 million sq ft with Whitney and Company. Sister company Vicano Construction built the city's social services and housing hub at 230 Talbot Street. |
Private company | 67 acres of industrial landA |
| Landrise Developments / Don West Construction and Lecram Inc. Reported in December 2024: a residential development stretching from Wellington Road northwest to Major Line, proposed by Landrise Developments/Don West Construction and Lecram Inc., which 'have acquired the majority of land in the Sandymount Development Area' with a proposal for almost 1,500 units of singles, townhouses and high-density apartments. |
Developer | majority of the Sandymount Development Area; almost 1,500 units proposedA |
| Doug Tarry Homes (Doug. Tarry Limited) The city's largest home-building name is also buying downtown land: the railway-lands master planning exercise was prompted in part by 'the recent sale of a parcel of land at the Elgin County Railway Museum to Doug Tarry Homes for a planned residential development'. Ontario's builder regulator records 1,103 total possessions for Doug. Tarry Limited of 122 Edward Street over 2016-2026. |
Family / private | 1,103 home possessions 2016-2026; buyer of the Elgin County Railway Museum parcelA |
5
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
St. Thomas is not a geography CMHC publishes at: Statistics Canada's CMHC starts tables (34-10-0126, 34-10-0135, 34-10-0143, 34-10-0158) were queried through the WDS API and none carries a St. Thomas member — the cubes stop at provinces and larger CMAs. What does exist per builder is Ontario's Home Construction Regulatory Authority builder directory, which publishes total possessions ('the total number of freehold or condominium properties delivered by the licensee to homeowners') and a year-by-year count. Fourteen licensed builders list a St. Thomas address. The two that matter are Hayhoe and Doug Tarry; the volume story of the next decade is rental, through Drewlo's brownfield proposal.
| Name | Type | Possessions 2016-2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Communities Inc. (Hayhoe Homes) Licensed at 2 Ontario Rd, St. Thomas, under the Hayhoe Homes related-company group; licensed since February 2011. Year-by-year possessions run 102 (2016), 207 (2020), 218 (2021), 177 (2023), 162 (2024), 185 (2025), 100 to date in 2026. No convictions or major claims recorded; one chargeable conciliation. Figures read from the HCRA Ontario Builder Directory API. |
Private company | 1,721A |
| Doug. Tarry Limited (Doug Tarry Homes) 122 Edward Street, St. Thomas; HCRA-licensed continuously since 5 August 1976. Possessions by year: 59 (2016), 126 (2020), 140 (2021), 118 (2022), 90 (2023), 152 (2024), 100 (2025), 68 to date in 2026. One minor claim, $2,931.98. The same company bought the Elgin County Railway Museum parcel downtown for a residential development. |
Family / private | 1,103A |
| Don West Construction Limited (Donwest Custom Homes) 15 Anderson Avenue, St. Thomas; licensed since 1976. Volume has fallen sharply: 46 possessions in 2019, 42 in 2021, then 14 (2023), 9 (2024), 10 (2025). One chargeable conciliation and $42,324.24 in minor claims. The company is also a partner in the proposed Sandymount development with Landrise and Lecram Inc. |
Family / private | 301A |
| Collier Homes Inc. 19 Royal Dornoch Drive, St. Thomas; licensed since 1993; 210 freehold and 11 condominium possessions over the decade, 15 in 2025 and 2 to date in 2026. No claims recorded. |
Private company | 221A |
| Drewlo Holdings Inc. / Drewlo Homes Inc. Both companies are HCRA-licensed at 680 Waterloo Street, London — Drewlo Holdings since 1985 — and both show nil or negligible possession counts, because purpose-built rental does not pass through the freehold/condominium warranty count that the directory reports. Their St. Thomas significance is the 20-acre Wilson Avenue and Elm Street brownfield, acquired with six buildings and 1,800-2,000 rental units proposed, which would be the largest residential complex in the city. |
Family / private | no freehold possessions recorded for Drewlo Holdings; 7 for Drewlo HomesA |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
There is no REIT or institutional landlord established in the St. Thomas record at all. The commercial stock that matters is one enclosed mall held by a family investment company, one municipal industrial park, and one out-of-town private industrial developer on its edge.
| Name | Type | Floor area / land |
|---|---|---|
| City of St. Thomas The city is the landlord-of-record for the industrial market it created, servicing Yarmouth Yards with roads, storm and sanitary sewers, stormwater ponds, a rail shunting yard and two pumping stations, with four construction contracts (J-AAR, Amico, Birnam Excavating) scheduled to complete by the end of 2026. |
Government | 1,500 acres of serviced industrial landA |
| Vicano Developments Bought the 67-acre triangular parcel at Highbury Avenue and Ron McNeil Line in December 2023, outside the city assembly, and is marketing it with Whitney and Company of Cambridge for a single occupier of up to 1.4 million sq ft. Also active in the Dennis Drive Industrial Park. |
Private company | 67 acres; up to 1.4M sq ft marketedA |
| Elgin Centre owner (entity not established) The city's enclosed shopping centre, bought in October 2016 at about 50 per cent vacancy by what named reporting describes as a small, family-owned real estate investment company whose principals are Jay and Mory Burstein. The corporate name is not in any record opened, so the entity is left unnamed rather than guessed. Redevelopment now proposed: two 10-storey mixed-use buildings, 232 units, on the southwest corner of the site. |
Family / private | 263,000 sq ftB |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- That Farhi Holdings owns the former Elgin County courthouse in St. Thomas: NOT the case. The historic courthouse is the working provincial courthouse, refurbished and expanded by the province between 2011 and 2014. The only other former court building in the city, the Colin McGregor Justice Building at 30 St. Catharine Street, was municipally held and its site is now a city park and recreation hub in the core.
- That Farhi Holdings owns farmland in the St. Thomas area: not established for any specific parcel. Farhi's own site states holdings in more than 53 Ontario municipalities in parcels of 9 to 900 contiguous acres, and it is developing the Talbotville Meadows subdivision minutes from St. Thomas, but no source opened names a Farhi farm parcel in Elgin County. No individual farm owner is named from any register, per the naming rule.
- Whether Farhi Holdings owns anything in St. Thomas today: its own rental and per-property pages would not open (connection failure), and the two properties documented in named reporting were sold to the city in 2017.
- The price the City of St. Thomas paid for the megasite land, and the price PowerCo paid the city for its 370 acres: neither figure appears in any source opened. Acquisition was announced in 2022 without a price, the transfer was to complete 'by late summer', and the city's audited statements could not be opened.
- Any link between a property holding and elected office in St. Thomas: nothing was established, and the record therefore carries none. Checked: the city's own site navigation (no conflict-of-interest or pecuniary-interest registry page is linked, though section 6.1 of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act requires one), and the whole run of named local reporting opened for this record, in which councillors appear as decision-makers on the 2017 Farhi purchases and the megasite assembly but no member's own holding is recorded.
- The corporate entity that owns Elgin Centre. Named reporting identifies the principals but not the company; no filing was opened.
- CMHC housing starts for St. Thomas: not published at that geography in the open Statistics Canada tables checked. Any starts figure for the city would have to come from CMHC's HMIP portal or municipal building permits, neither of which was opened.
§
Sources
- Overview: land registry — Government of Ontario (ServiceOntario) · openA
- Bulletin 2026-04: Land Services Fee Changes effective November 2, 2026 — Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, ServiceOntario, Land Registry Services Branch · openA
- MPAC home page (AboutMyProperty, propertyline, Municipal Connect) — Municipal Property Assessment Corporation · registrationA
- Elgin County Courthouse - project page — Infrastructure Ontario · openA
- Elgin County Courthouse Officially Complete — Infrastructure Ontario · openA
- Elgin County Courthouse virtual exhibit: Consolidated Courthouse — Elgin County Archives · openA
- City of St. Thomas, Ontario - Designated Heritage Properties — City of St. Thomas (copy hosted by Railway City Tourism) · openA
- Historic Elgin County Courthouse — Railway City Tourism (City of St. Thomas) · openA
- City and London developer Shmuel Farhi reach deal on west-end properties — Ian's City Scope (Ian McCallum) · openA
- 'Housing in our community is a crisis and needs to be filled,' and the most contaminated field in the community is there to help — Ian's City Scope · openA
- A Brantford development firm has become a solid St. Thomas supporter — Ian's City Scope · openA
- Land acquisition sends a clear message St. Thomas is actively seeking to attract a significant manufacturing investment — Ian's City Scope · openA
- St. Thomas, Ont. purchases 350-hectare 'mega-site' for next industrial employer — Global News · openA
- Significant land acquisition announced as St. Thomas prepares to attract mega industrial development — 94.1 St.ThomasToday.ca · openA
- Central Elgin reaches $80M deal with St. Thomas over electric vehicle gigafactory lands — Global News · openA
- Ontario EV battery plant to anchor new industrial megasite — The Globe and Mail (Property Report) · openA
- Megasite: PowerCo Advances St. Thomas Gigafactory with EllisDon Appointment and Phased Development Approach; Yarmouth Yards construction updates — St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation · openA
- Volkswagen-backed PowerCo SE reaches significant milestone in St. Thomas gigafactory project — Volkswagen Group · openA
- 'The development of Yarmouth Yards will require St. Thomas to take on significant debt in the next five years.' - Finance Director Dan Sheridan — Ian's City Scope · openA
- Ontario Builder Directory (builders, buildersummary and builderProperties API endpoints) — Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) · openA
- As was his vision, Jay Burstein says Elgin Centre will again be a happening place — Ian's City Scope · openA
- Elgin Centre twin tower apartment proposal grows to 10 storeys — 94.1 St.ThomasToday.ca · openA
- Land / Talbotville Meadows — Farhi Holdings Corporation · openA
- About St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital — St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital · openA
- getCubeMetadata for CMHC housing starts cubes 34-10-0126, 34-10-0135, 34-10-0143 and 34-10-0158 (no St. Thomas geography member) — Statistics Canada Web Data Service · openA
- St. Thomas, Canada - location page — PowerCo Canada · openA
- Colin McGregor Justice Building - tag archive — Ian's City Scope · openA
- Yarmouth Yards / railway lands - tag archive (Doug Tarry Homes purchase of the Elgin County Railway Museum parcel) — Ian's City Scope · openA