National Village

National Village is a resort-style master-planned community on roughly 700 acres in Opelika, Alabama, built around the 600-acre Saugahatchee Lake and the Grand National Golf Course — one of eleven courses on Alabama's famed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Developed by Retirement Systems of Alabama with Connor Bros. Construction as the builder, construction began in 2006 and continues toward a planned 1,400 single-family homes arranged across five to seven distinct villages, each clustered to preserve expansive woods, wetlands, and lake views between them. Although widely marketed as an active-adult destination and featured in 55+ directories, National Village is NOT a legally deed-restricted age-qualified community — all ages are welcome. In practice it draws a heavily retirement-focused, golf-loving buyer profile, and the lifestyle is unmistakably resort-oriented. Homes are almost exclusively single-story, low-maintenance Craftsman-style cottages with shingle-and-stone exteriors, heavy interior beams, oak doors, 10-foot ceilings, 8-foot doors, granite or quartz counters, gas fireplaces, screened porches, and zero-entry primary showers. Buyers choose from design collections including The Yards (Ross Bridge / Cambrian Ridge cottages from roughly 1,200–1,600 sq ft), Eagle Bend (Craftsman cottages 1,500–1,822 sq ft, 2–3 bed/2 bath with attached two-car garages), and Stone Lake (larger homes 1,800 up to nearly 4,000 sq ft). New construction pricing currently starts in the low-$300s for small cottages and ranges into the $900s for larger Stone Lake homes; recent resales have traded roughly $445K–$598K. The crown jewel amenity is residents' membership-style access to the Auburn-Opelika Marriott Hotel & Conference Center at Grand National, which serves as the community's clubhouse. Through the Marriott, residents use two or three outdoor resort-style saltwater pools, a heated indoor pool, splash pad, private cabanas, whirlpools, fire pits, dry saunas, locker rooms, a full fitness center with exercise room, a business hub, restaurants, and a spa. Sports amenities include 8 clay tennis courts, 4 pickleball courts, and access to Saugahatchee Lake for boating and fishing. Homeowners receive complimentary unlimited play on the Short Course and unlimited range balls at Grand National, plus discounted rates on the Links and Lake championship courses — three RTJ courses totaling 54 holes on-site. Outside the gates of amenity buildings, the community dedicates roughly 1,500 of its acres to golf, lakes, and open space, with about 300 acres of green space, four stocked fishing lakes, and 8–10 miles (planned to 15) of wooded hiking and biking trails. Social life centers on Bingo, book clubs, cards, dancing, games, golf groups, pickleball leagues, swim, tennis, fishing, and boating clubs. HOA fees run roughly $150–$300 per month and include lawn mowing/edging/blowing, pruning, pine straw, irrigation water, trash pickup, common-area grounds maintenance, gate access, and all Marriott amenity privileges. Location is a genuine strength: Opelika's municipal fiber-optic network (Alabama's first Gig City) delivers some of the fastest residential internet in the country, Auburn University and Jordan-Hare Stadium sit about 15–20 minutes west, East Alabama Medical Center and Auburn Medical Park are minutes away, and I-85 provides quick runs to Montgomery (about an hour southwest), Columbus GA, Birmingham, and Atlanta (roughly 1 hr 45 min east).