Flagler County's Land Pipeline: Haw Creek Reserve, Neoga Lakes, and What's Moving in 2026

 

Flagler County added 25,000 residents in five years — the sixth-fastest growth rate in Florida. Here's the land pipeline driving it, and what it means for investors.

 

The Sixth-Fastest-Growing County in Florida

Flagler County isn't a secret anymore. Between 2020 and 2025, the county added roughly 25,000 residents, a 21.7% increase that makes it the sixth-fastest-growing county in Florida, driven overwhelmingly by domestic migration rather than births. That growth is reshaping the county's land pipeline from Palm Coast down to the historically sleepy county seat of Bunnell.

For land investors, Flagler County's current pipeline is unusually large relative to its existing population base. The Reserve at Haw Creek — a project covering roughly 2,800 acres west and south of Bunnell — was cleared by the Bunnell City Commission on a 3-2 vote and could ultimately bring 6,100 to 8,000 homes plus an RV park accommodating up to 800 motor homes, a scale that would grow Bunnell's population sixfold at full build-out over an estimated 20 years. It's the largest single development in the county since ITT platted Palm Coast itself in the 1960s.

 

The Bunnell Corridor: Industrial Meets Residential

Haw Creek Reserve isn't Bunnell's only major land story. The city is also weighing a rezoning request that would shift the future land use designation on roughly 459 acres from agriculture to "agricultural community industrial," and on approximately 1,383 acres along US Highway 1 and County Road 304 to heavy industrial. The applicant has stated there are no immediate development plans for the land, but some residents remain wary after the earlier, ultimately denied, Belvedere fuel terminal proposal raised concerns about industrial uses along the corridor.

Infrastructure is catching up in parallel: Commerce Parkway, a new 1.7-mile, two-lane road connecting State Road 100 to US-1 in Bunnell, opened in August 2025 after more than two decades of planning between the city, Flagler County, and the Florida Department of Transportation, and two new fire stations are under construction to serve the city's growing footprint.

For investors, the Bunnell corridor is worth watching as a dual-track story — residential land banking near Haw Creek Reserve's eventual rooftops, and industrial/logistics land positioning along the US-1/CR-304 corridor if the heavy-industrial rezoning proceeds. Those are two different investment theses on adjacent land, and getting the zoning designation right matters as much as the location.

 

Works best when:

• You're targeting land with a clear future land use designation already established
• You're comfortable with a multi-year (often 10–20 year) build-out horizon typical of master-planned communities this size
• You want exposure to a market still early in its growth curve relative to peers like Palm Coast

 

Risks:

• Infrastructure — roads, utilities, fire and emergency services — needs to keep pace with entitlements, and residents have already flagged concerns about the pace outstripping capacity
• Large land use changes (like the industrial rezoning) can face sustained community opposition that delays timelines
• Multi-decade build-outs carry real interest-rate and market-cycle risk over their life

Bottom Line: Flagler County's growth story is real, but it's a land-banking and long-horizon play more than a quick-turn opportunity — the projects driving headlines here measure their build-out in decades, not years.

 

Palm Coast Isn't Standing Still Either

While Bunnell absorbs the county's largest single project, Palm Coast continues incremental commercial growth. In November 2025, the Palm Coast City Council unanimously approved the voluntary annexation and rezoning of roughly 38.8 acres owned by Flagler Pines Properties LLC — shifting the land from Flagler County General Commercial to City of Palm Coast General Commercial designation — clearing the way for a major commercial development despite council discussion of traffic and utility capacity concerns. Palm Coast's broader pipeline also still includes previously approved large-scale projects like Neoga Lakes (roughly 7,000 homes and over 2 million square feet of commercial, civic, and office space) and Old Brick Township (about 5,000 homes and over a million square feet of commercial and industrial space), both of which remain in various stages of build-out.

 

The Investor Takeaway

Flagler County's land pipeline — Haw Creek Reserve, the Bunnell industrial corridor, Neoga Lakes, and Old Brick Township — reflects a county absorbing rapid population growth well ahead of its historical infrastructure. Land investors should treat Bunnell as the current frontier (higher risk, longer horizon, but earlier-stage pricing) and Palm Coast as the more established, incrementally growing commercial corridor. Either way, match your entry to the entitlement timeline — these are long builds, not flips.

 

Work With Newkirk

Evaluating land in Flagler County or want to talk through where a parcel sits relative to these pipeline projects? Newkirk Investments works land and development deals across Central Florida. Call 386-290-5356, email hello@newkirk-investments.com, or explore current opportunities at newkirk-investments.com.

 

SOURCES

• Flagler County Is 6th Fastest Growing in Florida — FlaglerLive — population growth figures
• Bunnell considers massive development that could quadruple population — Click Orlando — Reserve at Haw Creek details
• Bunnell residents push back over plan to rezone over 1,800 acres — News 13 — Bunnell industrial rezoning
• Palm Coast Council Approves Major Commercial Development — Flagler County Buzz — Flagler Pines Properties annexation
• Long awaited Commerce Parkway in Bunnell nearly ready to open — Flagler County Buzz — Commerce Parkway route, length, and cost
• In a Shift, and Despite Glut, State Approves 5,000-Home Palm Coast Development — FlaglerLive — Old Brick Township and Neoga Lakes unit counts and commercial square footage