Word spreads about new event facility off Little Valley Road
Hoover has a new event center that is quickly getting booked.
The Carriage House at Park Crest is a 20,000-square-foot event facility perched on a hill off Little Valley Road between Lorna Road and the Elevation Hoover apartments, just south of the U.S. 31 exit at Interstate 65.
Gary Beard, the owner of the South Hall Self-Storage business, has been operating a small event center called Park Crest Place in the former Grammas Restaurant off Little Valley Road for about eight years.
He built a garden area designed for weddings and outdoor events and has been using the 5,000-square-foot former restaurant as a place for receptions, parties and corporate events.
But the small restaurant property wasn’t really big enough for many potential clients, Beard said.
“It was broken up into too many rooms,” he said. “Our customers want just a big ol’ room.”
Beard used adjacent property he owned to build the 20,000-square-foot Carriage House. Originally, he was going to build a barn, but modified the plans and came up with the more upscale Carriage House concept, he said.
It took more than a year to build and opened in April. The two-story facility has a large, open room on each floor, each able to accommodate 500 people standing or 350 sitting at banquet tables, said Jodi Lombardo, the Park Crest event manager.
The upstairs room, called the Grandview Room, is lit with chandeliers and includes a 35-foot-tall double-sided fireplace, a bride’s room and large windows that allow natural lighting. The downstairs room, called the Grammas floor, is equally spacious and includes a bar.
People can rent the entire 20,000-square-foot Carriage House for $4,500 on Mondays through Thursdays, $5,500 on Fridays and Sundays and $6,500 on Saturdays. For an extra $1,000, the garden can be added onto the Carriage House rental.
Renting the garden and Park Crest Place starts at $3,500 and varies upon season and amenities. Renting Park Crest Place alone starts at $550 for corporate meetings and $1,500 for weddings and other events, Lombardo said.
So far, demand for the new Carriage House has been tremendous, Beard and Lombardo said.
“We’re completely booked for 2016 weekends, and I’ve got a handful of Saturdays in 2017 still left,” Lombardo said.
Demand for event space in the Birmingham area, much less the Hoover area, is great, especially since the Cahaba Grand Conference Center off U.S. 280 soon will quit having corporate events after its purchase by the Church of the Highlands, Lombardo said.
The first event in the Carriage House was the Oak Mountain High School prom with 500 students, Lombardo said. They used both floors and had a disc jockey on the top floor and a band downstairs, she said.
There also already have been several weddings and college formal dances there.
Beard originally envisioned having two events going on simultaneously on the different floors, but parking became an issue, Lombardo said. The facility has 176 parking spaces, with valet service offered if more than 250 people are expected, she said.
Beard said he also is proud of the catering options at Park Crest. In March, he hired longtime Birmingham and Tuscaloosa area chef Darryl Borden to be his in-house caterer.
Borden has more than 25 years in the food and catering business. He is perhaps best known as the original executive chef and partner in the Bombay Cafe, but he also has owned other ventures, including The Pub, The Canteen, The Veranda, About Thyme Catering at the University of Alabama and Gourmet Express, where he distributed handmade foods to upscale grocery stores and delis.
Borden has handled events for more than 2,000 guests at Bryant Denny Stadium, Coleman Coliseum and several golf tournaments. He also has handled events for Alabama football coach Nick Saban, preparing specialties for the Alabama team, coaches and recruits.
Beard has a collection of classic cars he offers for display at events, including inside the lower floor of the Carriage House if desired. The cars can be rented for wedding departures.