Affordable townhomes are latest project for Wayne Harbin Builder, Inc.

It's Feb. 27. Today we look at the 50 townhomes going up in James City County's Forrest Heights at prices well below county averages. Plus: Busch Garden's $16 million tax refund.

Townhouse construction, left, Doug and Brad Harbin. (Williamsburg Watch photos)

At a time when median home prices in James City County hover in the $500,000 range, a local builder is putting up townhomes whose prices start at less than half that, depending on your income.

Wayne Harbin Builder is putting up 50 lower-priced townhomes in the Forest Heights neighborhood off Richmond Road, and should have its model open in the next two months, said Doug Harbin, who runs the 40-year-old company with brother Brad.

“First-time home ownership is very important,” he told us.

Wayne Harbin Builder is part of the Southern Living custom builder program and regularly builds expensive custom homes. It has a separate division Brad runs that focuses on high end remodeling.

But the company is also active in doing community projects for Habitat for Humanity and charitable remodeling projects such as one they recently completed for an older home in the county that had no running water.

“They were having to get water dropped off at the house to be able to flush their toilets,” said Doug. “…