Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is a small city owned to an unusual degree by two institutions, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the College of William & Mary; the Foundation alone is 11.45% of the City's taxable real estate (2025). Owner data now comes from the City's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (principal-taxpayer table, posted by Virginia's Auditor of Public Accounts), replacing the City parcel layers on ArcGIS Online, whose host answers robots.txt with 403.
6 buildings · 6 with an owner established · 11 sources · 6 tier B · prepared 2026-11-01
Can you find out who owns it?
Virginia records title by deed. Williamsburg is an independent city, but it shares one Circuit Court and Clerk with James City County, at the joint courthouse on Monticello Avenue, and that Clerk keeps the deeds. Remote access to those land records is sold by subscription only; the Clerk's own pages are behind Cloudflare and the price was not read. The City Real Estate Assessor reassesses every parcel each year at 100% of market value, the owner of record is shown free in the Assessor's online property search (behind a disclaimer), and the City's annual financial report names the ten largest taxpayers. Virginia law will not record a deed unless its consideration is stated on the first page.
Is ownership public?An open dataset names the owner
Cost of one title searchOwner of record free per parcel in the Assessor's property search (property.spatialest.com/va/williamsburg, behind a disclaimer popup). Deeds: Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court Clerk remote access by one-year subscription only (fee not read: Clerk's pages are behind Cloudflare)
Bulk ownership dataNone used. The City's 'TaxParcels' and 'ParcelService' owner layers sit on ArcGIS Online (services1.arcgis.com), whose robots.txt answers 403, so they are treated as blocked (2026-11-04). The open substitute is the City ACFR's Table 8, Principal Real Property Taxpayers (top ten, current year and nine years earlier)
Sale pricesEvery sale, with its address
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College of William & Mary, Williamsburg campus Old College Yard, west end of Duke of Gloucester St; Jamestown Rd |
Institutional | College of William and Mary Wikipedia's campus article (s13): the trustees bought 330 acres from Thomas Ballard for £170 (1690s); the college bought 274 of Bright Farm's 284 acres in 1923, repurchased 1,200 acres of College Woods and Lake Matoaka in the 1920s, designated 300 acres of woods a natural preserve in the 1990s, and acquired the Eastern State Hospital buildings and 38 acres in 1980. The City ACFR (s9) lists W&M as the largest employer (1,000+, 29.05% of city jobs) and notes its $30M conversion of Brown Hall into a 31,000 sq ft office building. Tier B: an encyclopaedia, not a land record; exempt land is not in the taxpayer table. |
Institution | —B |
| Merchants Square 401-435 W Duke of Gloucester St and N Henry St |
Retail | Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Merchants Square's own site, branded 'Colonial Williamsburg Merchants Square' (s11): begun in 1928 as one of the first planned shopping districts in the US; in the early years many shop owners 'agreed to sell their properties to the Foundation' and moved into the new square; over 40 shops and restaurants; leasing through Thalhimer; the Foundation itself has offices there. Tier B: the site gives the history of the Foundation's purchases, not a current title record. The Foundation is the City's largest taxpayer, $362,346,800 in 2025 (s9). |
Institution | —B |
| Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg Quarterpath, Route 199 at Route 60 67,725 sq ft medical office building (2024) |
Institutional | Riverside Healthcare Associates City ACFR FY2025 (s9): Riverside Healthcare Associates is the 6th-largest taxpayer, $58,581,900 (1.85%) in 2025 ($53,729,100 in 2024, s10); the 40-bed hospital opened in 2013 and a 67,000 sq ft medical office building opened spring 2024. Riverside's 2005 release (s12) put the hospital on 26 acres of 'its recently acquired Quarterpath property at Route 199 and Route 60'; its 2022 release gives the MOB as 67,725 sq ft. Name as the ACFR prints it. Tier B: two sources together. |
Institution | —B |
| Midtown Row Monticello Ave at Richmond Rd (former Williamsburg Shopping Center) 55,540 sq ft retail · 5 floors |
Mixed use | BSR Midtown LLC City ACFR FY2025 (s9): BSR Midtown LLC is the 2nd-largest taxpayer, $124,599,900 (3.94%) in 2025 ($118,937,900 in 2024, s10); Broad Street bought the 20-acre Williamsburg Shopping Center and 5-acre Monticello Shopping Center in 2017 for a $120M mixed-use project; Phase III (fall 2022) added four five-storey buildings and a garage; Colliers became leasing agent in summer 2025. Broad Street Realty's 2024 10-K (s6): 240 units, 620 beds, $76.0M mortgage and a $15M Fortress mezzanine loan on the owning entity. Parent filed Chapter 7 on 20 Mar 2026 (s7). Tier B. |
Public company | —B |
| Quarterpath at Williamsburg (undeveloped land) Quarterpath, Route 199 at Route 60 |
Land | Quarterpath Williamsburg, LLC City ACFR FY2025 (s9): Quarterpath at Williamsburg is a 350-acre mixed-use development (Riverside's hospital, Attain at Quarterpath's 227 apartments, H.H. Hunt townhomes, Virginia Greens retirement community). Quarterpath Williamsburg, LLC is the 8th-largest taxpayer, $36,055,800 (1.14%) in 2025, down from $46,420,200 in 2024 (7th, s10) and $44,310,900 in 2016 (2nd). Tier B: the ACFR names the taxpayer and the development but does not list which tracts the LLC holds. Principals not stated. |
Developer | —B |
| Sterling Manor Apartments | Residential | Sterling Manor Apartments LLC City ACFR FY2025 (s9): 'Sterling Manor Apartments LLC' is the 4th-largest taxpayer, $69,557,400 (2.20%) in 2025, up from $63,532,800 in 2024 (s10) and $21,065,500 in 2016. Owner name as the ACFR prints it; the ACFR does not give the address, unit count or sale. Tier B: the taxpayer name, not a parcel record, ties it to the complex. |
Private company | —B |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
The City Assessor reassesses every parcel each year at 100% of fair market value (Code of Virginia § 58.1-3201). Figures below come from the City's FY2025 ACFR statistical tables (Assessor's Office), posted by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts. Parcel-level values came from the City's ArcGIS Online layers, now treated as blocked.
Taxable real estate, 2025$3.16B
ACFR FY2025 Table 6 (s9): residential $2,138,228,100 plus commercial $2,802,664,400 (which includes exempt property) less $1,775,984,600 exempt = $3,164,907,900 taxable real property.
Largest taxpayer, 2025$362.3M (11.45%)
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, ACFR FY2025 Table 8 (s9).
Largest single-asset taxpayer, 2025$124.6M
BSR Midtown LLC (Midtown Row), ACFR FY2025 Table 8 (s9); next HS APT Land LC, $109.3M.
Real estate tax rate$0.62 per $100
ACFR FY2025 Table 7 (s9); the transmittal letter calls it the lowest city tax rate in Virginia.
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.
Williamsburg is owned, to a degree unusual even for a small city, by two institutions: the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which has been the City's largest taxpayer since at least 2015, and the College of William & Mary, whose exempt campus does not appear in the taxpayer table. Parcel counts and acreage per owner came from the City's ArcGIS Online parcel layers, now treated as blocked; figures below are taxable assessed values from the City ACFR (s9, s10).
| Name | Type | Taxable real estate (City ACFR) |
|---|---|---|
| Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Rank 1 in every year shown: $341.0M (11.73%) in 2024 and $260.8M (14.90%) in 2015 (FY2024 ACFR, s10); $253.7M (13.99%) in 2016. Taxable value only; exempt Foundation property is not counted. |
Institution | $362.3M taxable, 11.45% of the city (2025)A |
| College of William and Mary From Wikipedia's campus article (s13); exempt state property, so absent from the ACFR taxpayer table. |
Institution | Campus bought in stages: 330 acres (1690s), 274 acres (1923), 1,200 acres of College Woods (1920s)B |
| Riverside Healthcare Associates Rank 6 (1.85%); $53.7M in 2024 (s10), $32.0M in 2016. Riverside's own 2005 release (s12) describes its Quarterpath property. |
Institution | $58.6M taxable (2025)A |
| Quarterpath Williamsburg, LLC Rank 8 (1.14%); $46.4M in 2024 (s10), $44.3M in 2016 (rank 2). Undeveloped Quarterpath land; principals not stated. |
Developer | $36.1M taxable (2025)A |
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.
Williamsburg is nearly built out, so new homes come a few dozen at a time. The Census Building Permits Survey counts 126 new units authorised in 2021-2025: 33 in 2021 (12 single-family, 12 in 3-4 unit buildings, 9 in one 5+ building), 46 in 2022 (30 single-family, 16 in two 5+ buildings), then 15, 10 and 22 single-family units in 2023-2025 (s8). No league table covers the city; builders are named from the City ACFR's economic-development narrative (s9). Overlook at Tutter's Neck, an 86-townhouse project announced in 2023, had 20 Phase A units 85% complete in FY2025; its builder is not named.
| Name | Type | Projects (City ACFR) |
|---|---|---|
| HHHunt ACFR FY2025: 'H.H. Hunt has constructed townhomes as part of the project, and demand continues to exceed the supply of these units.' |
Private company | Townhomes at Quarterpath (count not stated)A |
| Resort Lifestyle Communities (Virginia Greens) ACFR FY2025: now open and leasing, more than 35 local jobs; 'Virginia Greens Retirement' is the 7th-largest taxpayer ($37.8M). |
Private company | $30M, 180,000 sq ft 55+ community (announced 2022)A |
| Quarterpath Williamsburg, LLC ACFR FY2025: taxpayer rank 8, $36.1M (2025). Principals not stated. |
Developer | Master landholder of the 350-acre Quarterpath planB |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Commercial Williamsburg is the Foundation's Historic Area and Merchants Square, a hotel and timeshare strip on Richmond Road, and the newer Midtown, High Street and Quarterpath districts. Outside the Foundation the largest taxpayers are single-asset LLCs; only one, Broad Street Realty, files with the SEC, and it entered Chapter 7 in March 2026. Figures are taxable assessed values from the City ACFR's principal-taxpayer table (s9; 2016 column for owners no longer in the top ten). Westgate Resorts, LTD ranked 9th in 2016 ($14.5M).
| Name | Type | Taxable real estate (City ACFR) |
|---|---|---|
| Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Merchants Square was assembled from shop owners who sold to the Foundation (s11). The ACFR figure covers all the Foundation's taxable real estate, not only commercial. |
Institution | $362.3M taxable (2025), all classesA |
| Broad Street Realty, Inc. (BSR Midtown LLC) 10-K for 2024 (s6) carries Midtown Row at $126.8M, Midtown Colonial $17.9M (95,472 sq ft GLA, 100% leased) and Midtown Lamonticello $16.0M. ACFR (s9): BSR Midtown LLC rank 2. Parent filed Chapter 7 on 20 Mar 2026 (s7). |
Public company | Midtown Row, Midtown Colonial and Midtown Lamonticello: $160.8M net real estate in its 10-K; BSR Midtown LLC $124.6M taxable (2025 ACFR)B |
| HS APT Land LC Rank 3 (3.45%); $112.2M in 2024 (s10). The ACFR does not name the property. |
Private company | $109.3M taxable (2025)A |
| BRG Quarterpath LLC Rank 5 (1.98%); $63.2M in 2024 (s10), $24.5M in 2016. The ACFR names Attain at Quarterpath (227 apartments, opened 2016) in the same development but does not tie it to this LLC. |
Private company | $62.8M taxable (2025)A |
| Virginia Greens Retirement Rank 7 (1.19%). ACFR narrative: Resort Lifestyle Communities announced the $30M, 180,000 sq ft Virginia Greens 55+ community at Quarterpath in 2022; now open. |
Private company | $37.8M taxable (2025)A |
| Bluegreen Vacations, Unlimited Rank 7 in 2016 (0.99%); not in the 2025 top ten. Timeshare operator; parent not stated. |
Private company | $17.9M taxable (2016)A |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Per-parcel owners, values, sale dates and prices for all 4,727 parcels, and the 2026 values (the 2026 roll is only in the Assessor's Spatialest search, whose disclaimer popup was not accepted) — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- City of Williamsburg Municipal Building, 401 Lafayette St: owner City of Williamsburg, 62,385 sq ft gross, 3 storeys, 2024 value $22,072,600 — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Williamsburg-James City County Courthouse, 5201 Monticello Ave: owner of record City of Williamsburg, 60,344 sq ft, 2024 value $27,791,300 — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Williamsburg Lodge, 310 S England St: owner Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 88,000 sq ft, 323 units, 2024 value $71,002,100 (colonialwilliamsburg.org and historichotels.org refused with 403) — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- High Street Williamsburg, 1430 High St: eight units held by High Street Shops LLC and RCS-High Street TIC LLC, 2024 total $15,331,600, recorded Oct 2017 at a nominal $10 — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- William & Mary main campus parcel, 101 Jamestown Rd: 293.6 acres, 2021 value $471,981,800 (most valuable parcel in the city); the College also held 37 parcels and 800.5 acres in 2024 — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Midtown Row acquisition: sale 28 Nov 2022, deed 20223634, $123,300,000; Midtown address 215 Monticello Ave; Broad Street's 1260 Richmond Rd ($13.3M, 2017) and 220 Monticello Ave ($4.2M, 2017) purchases — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Sterling Manor Apartments, 151 Sterling Manor Dr: owner on the roll CS1031 Sterling Manor Apartments, DST (ACFR prints 'Sterling Manor Apartments LLC'); sale 31 Mar 2022 at $70,000,000 (deed 20221113); 191 units (capitalsquare.com robots disallows all) — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Doctors Hospital at 1500 Commonwealth Ave: 181,410 sq ft, 17.34 acres; Riverside's 114.078-acre 771 Quarterpath Rd tract — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Quarterpath Williamsburg LLC: 41 parcels, 168.4 acres (2024), incl. 4101 Battery Blvd 53.71 acres; recorded 15 Apr 2014 — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Landowner parcel counts and acreage: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 279 parcels, 1,312.4 acres, $444.8M incl. exempt; City of Williamsburg 72 parcels, 320 acres, $140.7M; W-JCC School Board 3 parcels, 50.5 acres; Sisters of Mercy (Walsingham Academy) 32.8 acres; National Park Service 28.0 acres; WRHA 13 parcels, 25.7 acres; American Battlefield Trust 19.7 acres; Williamsburg Area Transit Authority 13.4 acres — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Commercial details: HS APT Land LC's High Street View apartments (367 units, Kings Manor Dr / Treyburn Dr); BRG Quarterpath LLC = Attain @ Quarterpath (228 units); Bluegreen's 315 York St purchase ($15M, 2006); Westgate's 1324 Richmond Rd ($4.5M, 2002); the Foundation's 32 commercial parcels, 547,119 sq ft — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Builders' lot holdings: HHHunt Quarterpath LLC 11 Village Green North condo units; Holly Hills, LLC 24 lots (2021); Sky Blue Homes, LLC 11 townhouses on Meeting Pl; Kirbor at Powhatan Park LLC lots — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- Historic Area state class 'Colonial Williamsburg': 190 parcels, 666.6 acres, $253.6M (2024); all-parcel 2024 total $3.64B including exempt — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
- The Circuit Court Clerk's remote-access subscription price for Williamsburg-James City County land records (Clerk's pages behind Cloudflare; only search-result snippets seen).
- Principals behind Quarterpath Williamsburg LLC, HS APT Land LC, High Street Shops LLC / RCS-High Street TIC LLC and the sponsor of CS1031 Sterling Manor Apartments, DST: not stated on the roll; no filing was opened.
- Whether Midtown Row has been sold, foreclosed or transferred by the Chapter 7 trustee since 20 Mar 2026: the 2024 roll predates the bankruptcy and no later record was read.
- Civic holdings (property held by City Council members or other officials): the City's own site, where council minutes and disclosure filings would be, disallows ClaudeBot in robots.txt, so nothing was checked.
- Williamsburg Inn site: the Foundation's 11.484-acre parcel at 410 E Francis St (2024 $35,163,800); no record read names the Inn — previously from services1.arcgis.com, whose robots.txt answers 403; no other open source found (2026-11-04)
§
Sources
- Code of Virginia § 58.1-802: grantor tax 50 cents per $500; no deed admitted to record unless the consideration is stated on its first page — Virginia General Assembly (LIS) · openA
- Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court Clerk, Secure Remote Records / OCRA Subscriber Agreement (one-year subscription; county land records from 1854, Williamsburg land records from 1865) - seen in search results only — James City County / Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court · blockedC
- Real Estate Assessment and Property Search (property.spatialest.com/va/williamsburg): disclaimer popup with Schneider Geospatial Global Terms of Service — City of Williamsburg / Schneider Geospatial · openA
- Broad Street Realty, Inc. Form 10-K for 2024: Midtown Row (240 student units, 620 beds, retail portion 55,540 sq ft), Midtown Colonial (95,472 sq ft GLA), Midtown Lamonticello; Schedule III; Fortress mezzanine loan secured by the entity that owns Midtown Row — Broad Street Realty, Inc. (SEC EDGAR, CIK 764897) · openA
- Broad Street Realty, Inc. Form 8-K, 26 Mar 2026, Item 1.03: Chapter 7 petition filed 20 Mar 2026, D. Del. Case No. 26-10398-KBO; trustee appointed, assets to be liquidated — Broad Street Realty, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · openA
- Building Permits Survey, annual county files 2021-2025 (co2021a.txt ... co2025a.txt): Williamsburg (Independent City), FIPS 51-830 — US Census Bureau · openA
- City of Williamsburg, Virginia, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Year Ended June 30, 2025 (Table 6 assessed values, Table 7 tax rates, Table 8 Principal Real Property Taxpayers 2025 and 2016, Table 14 principal employers, economic-development narrative); posted on the Virginia APA report page apa.virginia.gov/local-government/reports/Financial-Reports/23318 — City of Williamsburg Department of Finance (posted by Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts) · openA
- City of Williamsburg, Virginia, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Year Ended June 30, 2024: Table 8 Principal Real Estate Property Taxpayers, 2024 and 2015 — City of Williamsburg Department of Finance (posted by Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts) · openA
- Merchants Square: History (shop owners sold their properties to the Foundation; planned shopping district from 1928) and About/Leasing pages — Colonial Williamsburg Merchants Square · openA
- Doctors Hospital of Williamsburg proposed for Quarterpath site (release dated 8 Jul 2005: 69-bed hospital on 26 acres of Riverside's recently acquired Quarterpath property); and 2 Aug 2022 release on the 67,725 sq ft on-campus medical office building — Riverside Health System · openA
- Campus of the College of William & Mary (land purchases 1690s, 1923, 1920s College Woods; Eastern State Hospital buildings and 38 acres, 1980) — Wikipedia · openB