Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Greystone is a planned unit development that encompasses more than just the residential area.
In the late 1980s, Daniel Corporation CEO Charlie Tickle sought out what other neighborhoods were doing and found the idea for Greystone, a retail developer community.
“We took the ideas we learned from that trip and came back and said, ‘There’s nobody else to do it, so we’ve got to do it ourselves,’” Tickle said.
Construction on the now more than 3,000-home development started in 1997, and 17 years later, all of the home lots were sold.
“It was just a record pace I don’t think ever will be met again,” Tickle said.
Dave Porter, general manager of the Greystone Golf and Country Club, said the community stands out due to its private club, a variety of custom homes and home prices, and a community spirit where residents care for each other and rally around charitable causes. The piece of land where Greystone is located, up against Double Oak Mountain and surrounded by woods, also sets it apart, Porter said.
Greystone is a planned unit development that encompasses more than just the residential area. It includes two main segments, Greystone Founders and Greystone Legacy, as well as 24 miles of private roads, two golf courses, two fire stations, multiple parks and walking trails and an elementary school.
“Of course, with all of that, at the time it was unincorporated [Shelby County] so to round out all of that, we knew we needed a school system,” Tickle said. “So that’s what birthed the idea of getting into the Hoover school system.”
Daniel Corporation owned a lot of commercial property on U.S. 280 at that time, Tickle said, and worked with the city of Hoover to have that property and Greystone annexed into the city.
“It was certainly the right decision at the time,” Tickle said. “Hoover took a gamble on us, and we took a gamble on Hoover, and certainly from our standpoint, it has worked out well.”
Even though Daniel Corporation sold the last lot a decade ago, Tickle said homes are retaining their values. Greystone remains a “nice, mature, stable” neighborhood, he said, that is re-energized by new events, rather than new structures.
Since he arrived in 2015, Porter said Greystone has worked to build a service culture for residents by offering new member services including a barber, tailor and car wash. Those will hopefully continue to grow in the future, he said.
“The plans for the future of Greystone include primarily growing our membership, continuing to improve our physical assists for members to enjoy, improve quality and service regularly, so it never gets stagnant, and create a focus on lifestyle, which will then support the other primary initiatives,” he said.
