Carter's Grove Owner in Default; CW to Sell Property at Auction

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Carter’s Grove will be up for auction on February 15 because owner and CNet founder Halsey Minor has failed to pay his mortgage to Colonial Williamsburg, and has stopped paying county taxes on the property as well.

In an email to employees late Thursday afternoon, Colonial Williamsburg President Colin Campbell said Carter’s Grove LLC, the entity Minor used to purchase the plantation for $15.3 million in 2007, failed to make the final two payments for the $10.3 million mortgage. WYDaily learned Thursday morning that Minor also owes taxes on the property to James City County for the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011, a bill totaling $21,846.47.

The auction is set for 1 p.m. on February 15 to be held at the Williamsburg/James City County Courthouse. The historic preservation and conservation easements that prohibit residential and commercial development on the 400 acres are still valid, meaning the mansion, the view shed and the archaeological sites will be preserved.

This isn’t Minor’s first residence to be in foreclosure – last February, his 200-acre Fox Ridge Farm near Charlottesville, valued at almost $4 million, was slated to be sold at auction. The sale was cancelled at the last minute, however, according to C-ville.com (read that story here).

Minor’s entity Minor Family Hotels LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall for his Landmark Hotel project, also in Charlottesville, which has stalled and is currently tied up in litigation (read the most recent story on C-ville.com).

Tax delinquency is not new to Minor, either. According to multiple media reports, including the Wall Street Journal, Minor and his wife owed more than $13 million in personal income tax to California last year.