The Native American tribe behind a $750 million casino resort under construction in Norfolk is locked in a fight to protect the Virginia birthplace of Chief Powhatan from a major real estate development.
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe, which gained federal recognition only in 2015, says Tree Hill Farm in Eastern Henrico County is sacred ground. The property, more than 500 acres of farmland and woods overlooking downtown Richmond, is where Powhatan was born nearly 500 years ago. BGRE, the real estate arm of Brookfield Asset Management, wants to turn the site into a mixed-use development.
A $750 million casino and a 13,000-year claim
The Pamunkeys say they have inhabited the region east of Richmond for 13,000 years. They were a core component of the Powhatan Chiefdom, an alliance of more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in Southeast Virginia’s Tidewater Region that formed as English colonists established Jamestown in the early 1600s.
The tribe is now building a casino resort on the Elizabeth River next to Norfolk’s Harbor Park Minor League Baseball stadium. The first phase is expected to open in late 2027. Boyd Gaming bought out the tribe’s original partner, billionaire Jon Yarbrough, in September 2024 after legal and financing disputes. Boyd and the Pamunkeys opened a temporary modular facility called The Interim Gaming Hall on the project site in November 2025…