It's all in threes for Jan King, owner of Three Kings Company. After all, the company has acquired and sold over 3,000 acres of land and has developed three up-scale neighborhoods in Perry - Kings Crest, Lake Lillian and the now under construction Indian Creek Plantation. Additionally, Janus Land Development, a division of Three Kings, began three years ago in order for King to introduce herself to the Perry business community. Suffice to say, three might be the King's lucky number.

      The name and the business is the venture of King and her late husband, Wilburt King, using their surname as a catch phrase for the downtown Perry business. Indian Creek Plantation, sprawling 500 acres of land off Georgia Highway 127, will be the first of its kind in Perry. A sign informing those who pass by the land development describes the gated community as, "Exclusive Estate Living".

     Three Kings Company has been in Perry for eight years and includes one of King's two daughters, Jennifer, Jennifer's husband, Edward Roland, as well as 25 employees. Three Kings Company buys land and performs site work, which consists of readying land for home ownership by building roads, putting in water and sewer lines, making the land level for building, and removing trees if necessary. It also includes making the land more pleasing to the eye. After subdividing the land for homebuyers it is then sold. "Indian Creek has been my baby, and I love this piece of land, and the more I ride the land, the more I love it," King says. "I was told by many people in this area the land would never sell. I was really antsy for people to start building here."

     The decision to reside and do business in the city of Perry was more than an afterthought when the Kings relocated from Homosassa, Florida 24 years ago. "Perry just felt good. It was just like that. It had a good reputation of being solid and there were upstanding citizens such as Larry Walker and Sam Nunn who made sure the community goes nowhere but up," King says. In its early stages Three Kings Company began renovating sites in Perry, including the offices of Larry Walker III's insurance agency. They also purchased, renovated, and later sold businesses such as King Fashions and a hotel in Byron. One of the company's recent projects is with the Houston County Board Of Education. Dave McMahan, director of facilities for the Houston County Board Of Education, says they readily call on the company because they are local and easily accessible. Three Kings is currently working as a sub-contractor on the board's most recent construction project, Sandefur Middle School, projected to open in August of 2007. "Three Kings is quick and has always done a good job for us. We don't hesitate to give them a chance for bidding on a job," McMahan says.

     Jim Worrall, mayor of Perry, says the city is extremely proud of the design and plan for Indian Creek Plantation. "Gated communities are very popular in a number of places, no developers here have explored the possibility of it," Worrall notes. He says questions concerning public safety access were raised and answered, but he as well as city officials understand that because of today’s raising crime rates, gated communities are becoming more and more popular. The mayor, also a friend of the late Wilburt King, says the company has moved forward and out. "For them to explore new possibilities such as this shows vision. Jan King has always had such a grasp on what is really pretty, attractive, and functional. She's a big success in whatever she's undertaking," Worrall says.

       One home is currently under construction in Indian Creek Plantation and the majority of the lots have been sold. The subdivision runs alongside Big Indian Creek and boasts residential lot sizes between 3 and 20 acres. The gated entrance itself is made of Tennessee rock from King's home estate, which she says symbolizes bringing a piece of her home to future residents. Kings says because of the large lot sizes, land buyers can feel like they have a piece of land where they can have privacy, and if they are parents, they have room to let their children play outside."

     The subdivision will have two entrances, one for residents and one fore public safety. The second entrance allows the police and fire departments access to the community in case of an emergency. In addition to the top security, the subdivision is located only three miles from the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter. King considers it a central location for anyone living in the area.

       King didn't decide to purchase the land over night when Bickley and Associates realtor Blake Westmore gave her a tour. She wasn't in a good mood when she saw the land and told Westmore she would pass. But later that evening, she decided to visit the property alone and in her own car. "The more I rode all over it in my own vehicle, the more peaceful I felt there, and in about 45 days I was the proud owner of it," King says. "When I get an idea in my head it's hard to shake it."

       King knows experience is the best school, and says she graduated from the school of hard knocks as well. "I've worked hard all my life and I have the calluses to prove it," she comments, quickly giving credit to God, her family and team of employees who have assisted her in this venture and those prior. "Some call it being hard-headed; I call it determination," King says. "I'm grateful for how things have turned out."

       King says she is very fortunate to be able to come across the properties that she has touched. Under the name Three Kings Company, subdivisions King's Crest was built and Lake Lillian came to fruition. King's Crest, located off of Georgia Highway 341 North in Perry was the couple's first land development. King says she knew the Lake Lillian area, located off Georgia Highway 341, would see growth but never imagined the area would see as much development as it has since the extension of Richard B. Russell Parkway to Interstate 75. Some things noticeable upon entering any of the Three King's subdivisions are the long and winding roads. She says she wants residents to feel as if they are in their own little world - not in an apartment complex.

      In the past eight years, Three Kings Company has seen changes in the way they do things. Instead of retention ponds required by law in all home developments, Indian Creek Plantation has cross-ponds filtered naturally through rock; this makes them more pleasing to the eye than the required retention ponds. Three Kings Company is also growing with the times and currently has trained most of its employees to do new things required by Georgia laws, such as erosion monitoring, which is now mandatory on building sites. In 1985, laws were passed that required anyone performing utility work for properties to have a utility contractor license. King not only received the state required license, but also did one better and became appointed to the state utility licensing board by Governor Sonny Purdue in 2004.

     King says she enjoys seeing her communities grow. "It feels good to ride through these communities and know that people came and stayed and we did comehting right, It also feels good to do somehting that other people enjoy," King says. When she isn't the woman manning the company, King enjoys hunting. While she normally hunts deer, she traveled to Africa lastg year to hunt buffalo, spendin ten days living off the land in a mud hut. She syas she hopes to return again this year. King recently wed in Jamaica to Johnny Walker, a Macon businessman. She also has another daughter and son-in-law, Jill and Erich Zammitt and has three grandchildren.

     King says the ultimate goal of Three Kings Company and Janus Land Development is to make sure clients are satisfied that everything is dont to meet their standards, which includes meeting deadlines and going the extra mile. "When we put the final seal of Three Kings Company on somehting," she says, "we want to be proud of it down the road."

This story originally appeared in April/May edition of Houston Magazine