Developers shared plans this week for a 60-acre project that will be called Leland Town Center, including the center's first tenant and other details.

The first phase of what's planned to be among the largest retail centers in the county will include four buildings. Leland Town Center is eventually expected to hold 250,000-square-feet of commercial space bordered by Ploof Road, U.S. 17 and Ocean Gate Plaza in Leland, said Doug Horack, development partner in Charleston, South Carolina-based Twin Rivers Capital.

"Our first tenant that we've signed a ground lease with is Chick-fil-A," said Andy Mitwol, another Twin Rivers partner.

The Chick-fil-A, along with the additional retail components in the first phase, is expected to be complete by summer 2018.

"Brunswick County as a whole and certainly Leland is an underserved retail area, and with all the growth that not only the county but especially Leland is experiencing, it was just a matter of time," Horack said. "Chick-fil-A's a game changer - of all the quick-service restaurants, they're almost an anchor tenant in a class by themselves in the influence they have because it's such an incredible draw."

For what would be one of the largest buildings in the center, Horack said Twin Rivers has been in discussions with movie theater groups and hotels that are interested in the site. The second phase is expected to include at least four or five more structures, including a 100,000-square-foot building that could hold several anchor or junior anchor tenants.

Twin Rivers has the property under contract with Pelican Properties, whose crews are currently constructing a connecting road between Ploof Road and Ocean Gate Plaza. It's the largest single tract currently in the town, said Gary Vidmar, economic and community development director for the town of Leland.

The other buildings in the first phase besides Chick-fil-A, which will be on U.S. 17 at the front of the center, include two single-tenant buildings and a third, 10,000-square-foot strip for shops and a drive-through business.

Bringing Chick-fil-A on board required additional data than typical studies would show, said Mitwol, who lives in Wilmington and brought the Leland site to the attention of Twin Rivers.

"Early on in the process, Twin Rivers Capital, Doug and I, we hired a third party to help us define what the actual trade area was," Mitwol said. "If you're just an average retailer and you were looking at the trade area, and you run your demographics on the town of Leland and surrounding areas, your demographic population is going to come in well under 30,000," Mitwold said.

But the third party retail tracking group studied shoppers at the Walmart next to the Leland Town Center site. 

"The results were really eye-opening. What it showed was that customers were actually crossing the Cape Fear River to shop," Mitwol said. "It was easier for someone living in downtown Wilmington to go west now that the causeway is fully open  . . . the outcome of the analysis was that the trade area encompassing downtown Wilmington and parts east of the Cape Fear River took the trade area population to over 100,000."

That will help lead to what Horack and Mitwol expect to be additional announcements in the coming weeks and months about other national tenants for Leland Town Center, Mitwol said.

"Everyone's always had their eye on Leland, there's no doubt about it with housing expansion," Mitwol said. "It [the analysis] really made a statement, was very impactful to Chick-fil-A and to the others quite frankly on whether or not the are was ready or not, now. We think that helped us."

Currently, an Aldi grocery store is under construction at Ploof Road and U.S. 17, and Aldi competitor Lidl purchased the property at the corner of Ocean Gate Plaza and U.S. 17 last year.