Tractor Supply Co. has plans to open in Leland this year, bringing several jobs.

The company is slated to build about 19,000 square feet on more than 3 acres in Ibis Landing, a new development planned at Carol-Lynn Drive and U.S. 17 in Leland, said Gary Vidmar, the town’s economic and community development director.

Tractor Supply Co. is a retail chain that offers home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden, livestock and other products, according to its website.

Officials with Tractor Supply said its Leland store is expected to open in the fall of this year. 

"The store will provide about 15 new jobs to the area, with at least half of those being full-time positions," a Tractor Supply spokesperson stated in an email. The Leland store is one of more than 70 stores that will open this year.

"With over 1,800 stores, Tractor Supply is always seeking the right opportunity to grow the retailer’s footprint nationwide," the spokesperson said.

The firm has one other location in the area, in Rocky Point.

The Ibis Landing project, developed by Buster Development LLC, is slated to be built on land voluntarily annexed last August. The development is planned to include 123 townhome units on just over 19 acres. Commercial space is planned for nearly 10 acres.

Site work for the Ibis Landing development is underway, Vidmar said.

“This is the first new commercial-retail development that will take place in any of these annexed areas that have taken place over the last year or so,” Vidmar said.

Other annex developments include the Hawthorne at Waterside and the Bishops Ridge developments. 

The Tractor Supply business and the Ibis Landing development builds on the town's goals outlined in its 2020 master plan, which was adopted in 2016. 

“Ibis Landing and Tractor Supply are two of the numerous projects in the town that have gone a long way to accomplish many of the action goals setout in the Town of Leland 2020 Master Plan. Others include Harrington Village, Leland Town Center, Westgate Marketplace, Comet Westgate Apartments, EmergeOrtho, Wilmington South Medical Building, WWAY, Leland Station Apartments, along with several other new residential communities, businesses and restaurants,” Vidmar said.

Between the tax year 2016-17 and 2018-19, the town’s property valuation increased from nearly $2.4 billion to just over $2.7 billion, according to numbers released by the town.

During the same period, the ad valorem tax revenue increased from just over $4.4 million to more than $5.7 million. And between the same period, sales and use tax revenue increased from more than $4.4 million to nearly $5.4, according to the numbers.

“It’s the goal of the town to grow and increase its tax base and tax revenue. So the annexations itself accomplish that. And in addition to that, one of the goals is to attract new national and regional retailers, so Tractor Supply in particular achieves that goal for the town,” Vidmar said.

As the town comes to the end of its 2020 plan, Vidmar said, a new plan will take its place, and the planning department aims to get funds in the 2020-21 budget year for development of new master plan.