A plan to bring thousands of new homes, a school and the potential for more businesses to Leland is moving ahead.

Jackey’s Creek, a more than 1,440-acre master-planned community that could hold 6,000 residential units and multiple commercial buildings, is in the works next to the existing neighborhoods of Brunswick Forest and Mallory Creek, between U.S. 17 and N.C. 133.

In September, the town of Leland agreed to annex more than 1,100 of the site’s acres, which brought the entire project within the town’s planning jurisdiction.

“We felt more comfortable with the zoning regulations and just had a good working relationship with the people there (in Leland),” said Hill Rogers, broker in charge at Cameron Management and a managing member of Jackey’s Creek Investors LLC, the entity that currently owns the 1,440 acres.

For the construction of two portions of a connector road, the Brunswick Village Boulevard North Extension Project, the town is reimbursing the property owners’ development entity, Atkinson Trail Developers Inc., a total of $8 million. The road will include an entrance on U.S. 17 and a roundabout.

“The infrastructure reimbursement agreement was a critical piece,” Rogers said.

At the Nov. 20 meeting, where the Leland Town Council approved the road money, some residents expressed concerns about the expenditure. Leland has reached such agreements with developers before. In its resolutions regarding the funds, town officials outlined the reasons for the agreement, stating, “Owner has, or intends to, amongst other future plans, contract for the sale of part of the Property to the Brunswick County Board of Education, who intends to use the site for construction of a public school, and Owner intends to also sell or develop parcels for commercial and other uses, such as retail, office, and medical sites on the Property, and therefore the Parties and the general public have a need for ingress and egress routes to the school site and other portions of the Property.”

The documents also stated that the town “considers the installation of the public street as described herein to be of significant public benefit and has included it in its Capital Improvement Plan and … separately constructed municipal infrastructure would be inefficient and impracticable under the circumstances.”

In July, the county’s school board approved a new, 750-student elementary school to be built on a 64-acre site in Jackey’s Creek. As of Jan. 16, the school system is expected to close on the $5.5 million purchase of the land from Atkinson Trail Developers Inc. in February.

Part of the Jackey’s Creek community site had once been eyed for a potential minor league baseball stadium, but those plans fell through two years ago. In July 2022, Texas-based REV Entertainment had approached the town of Leland about the stadium, but Leland officials announced in January 2025 that they had reached a mutual decision with REV Entertainment not to move forward with the project.

But with growth ongoing in Brunswick County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state and nation, residential development was destined to be part of the plan for the property bought by Bruce Cameron Jr. and a partner in the 1980s.
Over the years, major developments have grown around the property, and the owners expect the homebuilders and businesses that are part of the Jackey’s Creek development to find the same success.

“We’re a byproduct of what’s happened with Brunswick Forest and Mallory Creek,” Rogers said, “and it’s great.”