Homebuilder Enters Brunswick County Market

New Leaf Builders, a company based in the Charleston area, has branched out.

The homebuilder, which established its Wilmington-area presence with houses in Riverlights, a 1,400-acre master planned community off River Road, has been working on homes in Brunswick County for the first time. New Leaf is one of the builders creating homes in East Lake, a more than 2,000-acre master planned community on Malmo Loop Road in the northern Brunswick County town of Leland.

The company grew its Port City office from a few employees in 2021 to 14 in 2026, said Alan Degen, New Leaf’s Wilmington division president.

“Growth was always the goal for us here in Wilmington, and we were able to forge a partnership with Criteria Development pretty early on for both this project here in Leland as well as another one in Calabash, and we have had good success,” Degen said. “We’ve delivered nearly 150 homes in the four years in Riverlights and have been able to continue to meet that demand and expand our offerings in that flagship community where we started here in Wilmington. And the next logical step was certainly into Brunswick County.”

East Lake is expected to have between 3,500 and 4,000 home sites, Degen said.

“It’s a mix of residential, both single-family and townhome construction, with future phases to have multifamily and commercial components in it as the project build-out continues,” he said.

New Leaf is hosting a grand opening celebration at East Lake starting at noon today and continuing until 4 p.m., with additional events from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

New Leaf's homes in East Lake range in size from 1,450 to 2,900 square feet, and the company currently has 12 homes under construction, Degen said Monday. Base prices range from the mid-$300,000s to the upper-$400,000s.

Degen said he expects demand for new construction to stay strong in the area.

“Leland is continuing to be an extremely desirable place...Brunswick County is extremely fast-growing," he said. "We feel very confident in the buyer sentiment and buyer pool today.”

Degen estimates that the company will break ground in another Criteria Development project, Bay Line in Calabash, during the fourth quarter of this year.

He said, "We feel very confident in that market and the growth down there as well."

Homebuilder Enters Brunswick County Market

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