Commercial Land for Sale in Henrico County, VA: Where It Is and What to Check Before You Buy or Sell

If you are searching for commercial land for sale in Henrico County, VA, the short answer is that the bigger tracts are in eastern Henrico near Richmond International Airport and White Oak, while western Henrico around Short Pump is mostly infill, pad sites and redevelopment. What a parcel is worth depends less on its acreage than on its zoning, road access, utilities and environmental constraints, all of which are county-specific in Henrico.

This post covers where the land is, the rules that apply in 2026, and what to check in due diligence, whether you are buying or selling. For the built industrial market, including rents and vacancy by submarket, see our Henrico industrial and warehouse guide.

Where is commercial land for sale in Henrico County, VA?

• Eastern Henrico (Airport, White Oak, Sandston): the county’s main supply of industrial acreage. The Henrico Economic Development Authority’s featured sites include Sauer Industrial Center (300+ acres, M-1), the Richmond International Airport Beulah Road site (200 acres, M-1C/M-2C), Azalea Discovery Park (100+ acres, M-2C) and Seven Hills Commerce Park (95 acres, M-2C). Inside White Oak Technology Park, data center owners hold most of what remains.
• Northern Henrico (Route 1, Brook Road, I-95): older commercial and industrial land along the corridors, plus the county’s Best Products Reimagined plan: a 320-acre area anchored by the 93-acre former Best Products headquarters on East Parham Road near I-95 and I-295, per VPM. The county has adopted new zoning subdistricts for Best Products Reimagined and Brook Road North.
• Far West End and Short Pump: little large greenfield acreage remains near West Broad Street. Deals here are usually pad sites, outparcels and redevelopment of older buildings, and pricing reflects retail and office demand rather than acreage.
• Varina: outside the airport and White Oak areas, large parts of Varina are rural, and the zoning ordinance includes a Route 5 Corridor Overlay District along New Market Road. Expect most commercial proposals there to need a rezoning, and check how the 2045 plan treats rural land before pricing acreage for development.

What zoning rules and plan apply in 2026?

Henrico adopted a rewritten zoning ordinance on June 22, 2021, effective September 1, 2021, and last amended July 28, 2026. Commercial districts include B-1, B-2 and B-3, the O-1 through O-3 office districts, O/S Office Service and CMU Community Mixed-Use; industrial districts are M-1, M-2 and M-3. A “C” suffix, as in M-2C, means the parcel was conditionally zoned and carries proffered conditions that can limit uses, building design or access beyond the base district. Older listings may describe pre-2021 districts, so confirm the current designation.

The comprehensive plan changed this summer. On July 28, 2026, the Board of Supervisors adopted the HenricoNEXT 2045 Comprehensive Plan, replacing the plan adopted in 2009, per the county. The Board amended the draft before adopting it, including revising six concept roads on the Major Thoroughfare Plan and setting aside a proposed A-2 rural zoning district and a Lakeside Avenue overlay for further study. The plan’s future land use map is what staff will measure rezoning requests against, so check both the old and new designations on any parcel you are pricing.

How do rezoning and provisional use permits work?

If the use you want is not allowed by right, there are two main paths. A rezoning, usually a conditional rezoning with written proffers and a conceptual plan, changes the district. A provisional use permit (PUP) allows a specific use the ordinance marks as provisional in that district. Both require a Planning Commission public hearing and a Board of Supervisors decision. The county’s posted fee schedule, dated June 2020, lists a conditional rezoning to a business or industrial district at $1,400 plus $50 per acre and a PUP at $750; confirm current fees with Planning.

Timing matters more than fees: contracts that depend on a rezoning usually include an approvals contingency and an outside date. For how the PUP process works step by step, see my Henrico provisional use permit guide.

Data center rules changed in 2025

On June 10, 2025, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to end by-right approval of data centers countywide, per Richmond BizSense. A new data center now needs a PUP and public hearings, and the buffer from residential property lines went from 200 to 500 feet. The ordinance also requires public water and sewer, closed-loop or recycled cooling water unless the PUP approves otherwise, and limits generator testing to weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. For sellers of powered industrial land, that means a data center buyer will need a longer approval contingency. See my White Oak Technology Park guide for how this has played out in the east.

Why does it matter that Henrico maintains its own roads?

Henrico is one of two Virginia counties, with Arlington, that maintain their own roads using state funds, per VDOT. In most counties, VDOT maintains local roads. The county’s Public Works Design Manual splits it this way: interstates (I-64, I-95, I-295), U.S. highways (such as West Broad Street, U.S. 250, and Williamsburg Road, U.S. 60) and primary routes (such as Patterson Avenue, New Market Road and Route 895) are VDOT’s; all other public roads are the county’s.

• County road frontage: work in the county right-of-way, including a new entrance, needs a Department of Public Works permit, with a fee and a cash or surety guarantee. The manual says review comments typically come back within 10 business days.
• VDOT road frontage: entrances on a primary route or U.S. highway go through VDOT, and the manual points to VDOT’s Ashland Residency for those roads.
• Turn lanes: the manual requires left and right turn lanes at all entrances on roads with four or more lanes, and the county traffic engineer can require them elsewhere. That can be a major site cost on a corridor parcel.

What utility and environmental costs should you plan for?

Henrico’s Department of Public Utilities provides public water and sewer, and connection fees are charged by meter size. For fiscal 2026-27, the county lists combined water and sewer connection fees for business, industrial and public buildings of $11,290 for a 5/8-inch meter, $40,375 for 1-inch and $159,895 for 2-inch, and $10,410 per unit for multifamily. Line extensions, pump stations and Dominion Energy service upgrades are on top of that, so ask early.

Henrico is covered by the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. Per the county’s Resource Protection Area page, RPAs include perennial streams, connected wetlands and a 100-foot buffer landward of them, where new development, parking lots, clearing and grading are generally prohibited. RPAs are field-verified during plan review, so a stream that looks minor on a map can take a meaningful slice of a site’s buildable area.

What should Henrico land due diligence cover?

Sellers can shorten a deal by assembling a current survey, zoning confirmation, prior environmental reports and utility availability before listing. For the eastern Henrico industrial market that drives most large land demand, return to the Henrico industrial guide, and browse current listings.

Talk through a Henrico land deal

Whether you are pricing a parcel to sell or screening sites to buy, I can help you line up the zoning, road, utility and environmental questions before money goes hard. Henrico Planning, Public Works and your land-use attorney are the final word on what a site allows. Reach out with the parcel and what you have in mind.