Bud Coleman

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Bud and June Coleman

William Lee "Bud” Coleman (born February 6, 1929 in Birmingham; died February 3, 2014, in McCalla) was a businessman, investor, home builder, and real estate developer. After leaving Jones Valley School after the sixth grade, Coleman joined his father R. C. Coleman and mother Mable Coleman in the family business, Coleman Auto Parts, in Powderly. At the business, he loaded and delivered coal to area homes and businesses. After several years of working in the coal department, he began working in the lumberyard and inside the store.

In the early 1950s, Coleman Auto Parts was sold and the proceeds from the sale went into the purchasing and development of Coleman Lakes in McCalla.

R. C. and Bud co-managed Coleman Lakes until R.C. became too ill to work in early 1958. On June 20, 1958, R. C. died and Bud became the sole manager of the business.

Two years later, in 1960, the entire development was sold to C. P. Griffin.

Bud moved his family to Green Acres, a community on the western side of Birmingham.

Part of his payment Bud’s payment for Coleman Lakes was raw land on the north side of Rock Mountain near McCalla. Bud sold 50% interest in the land to Raymond Martin, and they soon began building a road over Rock Mountain and the first of three recreational fishing lakes. The development was named Rock Mountain Lakes.

When the first lake was opened to the public in 1963, both the Coleman and Martin families moved to Rock Mountain Lakes.

A corporation, Rock Mountain Lakes, Inc. was formed with Bud and his wife June and Raymond and his wife Ned as officers.

Over time, the fishing business became secondary to real estate development at Rock Mountain Lakes. Waterfront property was sold almost as soon as it was surveyed, and when new roads were built, lots were surveyed and quickly sold there as well.

In 1965, Coleman and Martin bought the two Griffin Lakes and the adjoining property on the south side of Rock Mountain from Roy Griffin. Fishing permits were sold from an office on that side of the mountain and home lots were surveyed and quickly sold.

In the early 1970s, Martin and Coleman began building spec homes on property that they owned at Rock Mountain Lakes, both together and separately.

In 1975, Raymond Martin sold his half of Rock Mountain Lakes, Inc. to Coleman. Several months later Elbert and Mary Buckelew bought half interest in the business from Coleman. Bud Coleman and Elbert Buckelew sold home lots and built spec homes, both together and separately.

In 1990, the corporation was dissolved and the remaining acreage was donated to area churches and transferred to the Rock Mountain Lakes Landowners’ Association.

In February 1982, Bud Coleman and his son Bill opened a Kwik Kopy Printing franchise at Westlake Village in Bessemer.

Just before Thanksgiving 1983, Bud and June Coleman and another son, Bobby, opened the first Video Xpress in Westown Plaza in Bessemer. Bud provided the funding for that store and several more the following year.

In 1986, the Kwik Kopy Printing franchise was closed to the public and became an in-house print shop for Video Xpress.

Video Xpress eventually grew to a chain of 85 locations, the largest in Alabama and one of the largest in the nation. On November 1, 1994, Video Xpress was sold to Dothan-based Movie Gallery.

During the late 1990s, Bud Coleman provided funding for Dollar Daze, a small chain of general merchandise dollar stores. By 2002, all of the Dollar Daze stores were liquidated and closed.

In the early 1990s, Bud began investing in preconstruction condos in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama. He and his wife June held most as rental properties, but also flipped them upon completion when it was economically advantageous to do so.

The Fall 1997 issue of ‘’’Gulf Coast Condo Owner’’’ reported that the Coleman’s owned twenty-two units in Phoenix properties alone.

Bud Coleman was an active member of Rock Mountain Lakes Baptist Church. He died in 2014 and is buried at Patton Chapel Cemetery in Hoover.

Publications

  • "New Kids: June and Bud Coleman with Son Bill – No. 664. Bessemer, Alabama.” (1982) Kwik-Kopy Kids
  • Farris, Abby (Fall 1997) "Their Own Part of the Coast: After Six Years of Buying Gulf Coast Condominiums, Bud Coleman Has Turned Condo Ownership Into a Profitable Business". Gulf Coast Condo Owner.
  • "W. L. Coleman" obituary (February 4, 2014) The Birmingham News
  • Coleman, Bill (March 2016) The Life and Times of Bud Coleman of Jefferson County, Alabama. Book One: 1929 - 1978. CreateSpace Publishing. ISBN 153084505X
  • Coleman, Bill (March 2016) The Life and Times of Bud Coleman of Jefferson County, Alabama. Book Two: 1978 - 2014. CreateSpace Publishing. ISBN 1532738129
  • Coleman, Bill (March 2016) The History of Rock Mountain in Jefferson County, Alabama (Second Printing, Revised). CreateSpace Publishing. ISBN 1530625343
  • Fullman, Lynn Grisard. “Neighborhood Profile: Rock Mountain Lakes”. Undated newspaper clipping The Birmingham News

External links