Alabaster's loss is Calera's gain - Birmingham Business Journal:

wanuso.wordpress.com
Alabaster officials acknowledge that wasthe case, althouguh they're quick to note that things are differentr in the two years since Mayor David Frings and a new City Councipl took office. "They're absolutely right. Alabaster used to be an anti-commercial, anti-growtjh community. Actually, that's why they hired me – to turn it says Cam Ward, Alabaster's director of economic development, who is unopposee in November for a seat in the Alabamaw Houseof Representatives.
"The Super Wal-Mart going to Calera and the factthe (Shelbyy County) airport was annexed into Calera are both due to the fact Alabastee hasn't been friendly" to commercial developers and the businesd community in general, Ward says. Rather than throw rocks, Ward commendedf Calera Mayor George Roy and Pelham Mayoe Bobby Hayes for reeling in development Alabaster primarily by limiting extension of itssewer system. "Alabaster is still the population center ofShelbyh County, but we're working hard to catch up with thosee two," Ward says.
"The city has mended fences and turnef around in theopposite We're extremely proactive in the business Mayor Frings says. Evidence is Alabaster wooing Aronov Realty'z Whitestone Center on Alabama 119, which will be anchoredc by a Publix grocery. The Shelbyy West Corporate Park at the north end of the Shelby Countgy Airport has recently attracted new large warehouses tenants such as Birmingham Tobaccio andArmstrong Relocation, the local franchisr of United Van Lines. But it wasn't alwayz that way. "I told the mayor 'One of the best things that happened to you is when Alabasterf shutdown development.
' They just didn't seem to want says former Shelby County Probate Judge Tommy Snowden, who served from and is now a residential and commercial real estate agent workinf Calera with Re/Max First Choicse in Pelham. Part of Alabaster'x problem, Snowden says, was political infighting. "The city fathersa sort of seemed like they squabbled among while Calera was more organized like Pelhammand (Mayor) Bobby Hayes," Snowden "Alabaster made you feel like they didn'ft want you there," adds Mark Clayton, developerd of several Calera projects via his I-65 Properties and Clayton and Claytohn Realty.
"Most everybody who has triexd to develop there will tell you the same Clayton says. "But it was 180 degreesz when you talked with Calera andMayor Roy. They were even easiet to work with than Shelby Roy was such a help that Clayton was successfu naming the road through his Millenniuk Park commercialthoroughfare "George Roy But while Calera bends over backward to welcome commercial and residentiak development, Roy shrewdly uses the city'xs sewer and natural gas infrastructure to Calera's "These subdivisions said they wanted to be on our sewerf system. We told them, 'Good.
Be in the city,'" Roy says "It was our calling card to get themin Calera." Indeed, a map showx pockets of annexed land far from Calera'sx town center, encompassing upscale subdivisions such as Waterford, Shelbyu Springs Farms and Willow Cove, which is near the Chiltonm County line. Developers are nearly unanimoua in their praisefor Roy, the congenial 74-year-old who first took office in 1966. Roy, they say, is the key to makint the wheels ofdevelopment turn. "I can't say enoughh good things aboutMayot Roy," says Mike Graham, president of Graham and Co.
, developer of a $15 million, 500,000-square-foot multi-tenant warehousde in the Shelby Commerce Park on U.S. 31. "When we brinb prospects to Calera, we make a point to let them meet himbecause he's such a positivw influence. He gives businesspeople the confidence that the citysupportd business."