Exclusive Residential Community, Golf Team Home Course Planned By John Dunn The Georgia Tech Club, a 600-acre planned residential community built around an 18-hole golf course that would be home to the Yellow Jacket golf team, is planned for development next fall. In addition to the golf course, the $66 million planned community includes a tennis center and a lifestyle center complete with spa and fitness facility. The community will be developed in north Fulton and Cherokee counties. The Georgia Tech Alumni Association and the Athletic Association have jointly agreed to licensing agreements with University Clubs by Melrose, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Melrose Co., of Hilton Head Island, S.C., a privately held developer of prestige golf communities. Joseph P. Irwin, vice president and executive director of the Alumni Association, says, "We’re putting our name on a club that we can call our own. It’s one of those unique opportunities that will benefit the school and its alumni. "The Georgia Tech Club will be a high-end, private community developed by a company that has established itself as a model for excellence," Irwin says. The company built Indigo Run, a 1,800-acre planned community on Hilton Head Island that has two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses, and Aspen-Glenn, a 900-acre planned community with a Nicklaus-designed golf course in Carbondale, Colo., among others around the United States. "Any time you are satisfied or you’re standing still in our world today, you’re moving backward. We need this to continue to make our golf program an even better program," says Athletics Director Dave Braine. "This is a situation that will not only help our golf program, but it will help the whole Georgia Tech community." The Georgia Tech Club has initiated a drive for 100 founding members at $60,000 each, and is sending out letters, promotional material and a video to alumni. Community plans call for 206 homes on lots costing about $240,000 each and another 25 exclusive, fully furnished four-bed-room founders’ cottages estimated at $750,000 each. The homes will be situated around the golf course and its 30-acre driving range and practice area. Melrose Co. estimates the gated community will sell out in four years. The Alumni Association and Athletic Association will receive 5 percent of membership sales and 10 percent gross operating revenue. This royalty fee is projected to generate more than $1 million a year at sellout. Golf course architect Rees Jones of Montclair, N.J., designed the golf course and joined with Tech golf coach Bruce Heppler in designing the practice facility. Atlanta architect Niles Bolton, Arch 68, president of Niles Bolton Associates, designed the country club and cottages. Former U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion Stan Smith designed the tennis facility, and Johnson and Johnson Health Care Systems is designer of the lifestyle center. "That quadrant of northern Atlanta from Interstate 75 all the way over to Interstate 85 and 40 miles north is one of the most desirable areas to live in the Greater Atlanta area," says Ed Spears, president of the University Clubs. "It has been on a growth curve for the past 15 years that we find very attractive and desirable." Because it has aligned itself with Georgia Tech, Spears says, the Melrose Co. has made its development unique. "There can only be one Georgia Tech Club and home of the Georgia Tech golf team," he says. Spears says The Georgia Tech Club will benefit alumni and Tech in a number of ways: It will provide alumni and friends a place to reunite and congregate for academic, cultural and athletic events. The learning and conference facilities developed in partnership with IBM will be an excellent venue for guest lecturers, continuing education and member-sponsored meetings. The golf course and state-of-the-art practice facilities will be available to the Georgia Tech golf team on a priority basis. Alumni and athletes will be able to enjoy a championship golf course designed to host significant amateur and collegiate events. The Georgia Tech Club will provide financial support for alumni and athletic programs through royalties on all memberships and operating revenues.