Another Williamsburg area hotel to close to become apartments
JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — A Historic Triangle landmark could soon be going away.
Last Tuesday, the James City County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning for the Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center that'll allow the 303 room hotel to be transformed into 126 market rate and 'affordable' apartments.
As part of the plan, the New Jersey-based would-be buyers will remove the Virginia Rail Fence, stockade walls and replica cannons that have lined the front of the property for
The , with its stockades and cannons, have been hard to miss for decades along Pocahontas Trail south of Williamsburg.
But according to the attorney representing a new buyer, too many travelers have missed turning in throughout the years.
'This is on a Tuesday afternoon when a lot of people were in town, and there are two cars in the parking lot, one of which was mine,' said Vernon Geddy III, the attorney for the hotel's buyer.
In a presentation last week to the James City Board of Supervisors, it was explained that the new buyer would take the more-than-300 room hotel and convert it into 126 apartments, with room for retail.
Forty percent of the units would be rented at rates considered affordable. The stockade, cannons and name, however, would go, and the property would be renamed The Foundery at Williamsburg.
'We need that kind of thing,' said James City County Supervisor Barbara Null. 'We need to be able to use these buildings instead of tearing them down, so I'm very happy about that.'
But it doesn't necessarily please James City County Supervisor Ruth Larson, especially when the more than $80 million Williamsburg Sports and Events Center is under construction next to the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center. The 200,000-square-foot sports center is expected to open in 2026.
Williamsburg Sports Complex expected to bring millions to local economy
'I'm disappointed to see a hotel go and see that room those rooms be lost because we know already, I believe, we have booked 40 weekends in the first year of the sports center,' Larson said, 'and I hope I'm not letting something out of the bag, but I'm sure we'll get a more precise number soon, and some of these tournaments are quite large in every piece of rooms that we have.'
Larson noted no new hotel has opened in James City County in nearly 20 years.
Nearly 20 hotels close in 20 years as Williamsburg visitation wanes, but tourism leaders 'bullish' on the future
There's no word yet on when the hotel could close for good.
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