GA. TECH-THEMED SUBDIVISION IN WORKS By JANET FRANKSTON The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02/22/04 Georgia Tech alumni soon can re-create the camaraderie of the campus, but in much nicer digs. A private developer is building the Georgia Tech Club, a golfing subdivision in Cherokee and northwestern Fulton counties. The 610-acre site is on King Road near Birmingham Highway. House prices will start in the $800,000s. Crews are building roads now, and construction of 210 single-family homes is scheduled to start in June, said Mark Hesemann, general manager of the Georgia Tech Club. Rees Jones is designing the subdivision's golf course; Niles Bolton, a Tech graduate, will design the clubhouse. The club will offer a spa, lectures and continuing education classes. Residents and club members won't have to be Tech graduates. The Georgia Tech Alumni Association and the Athletic Association — nonprofit organizations separate from the school — have partnered with developer University Clubs by Melrose to market the project, said Joe Irwin, vice president and executive director of the alumni association. The associations are not funding the development. Melrose, based in Hilton Head, S.C., is building a development in College Station, Texas, for alumni of Texas A&M. The University of Georgia and Pennsylvania State University are among other colleges with subdivisions aimed at alumni. UGA's 900-home development is under construction in Statham. Tech's golf team will practice and host tournaments on the subdivision's course, Irwin said. The alumni association will get a percentage of golf club membership fees and money generated by the club's operations. Alumni who pay a $60,000 "founder's" golf club membership fee have the first crack at buying lots, which sell for $180,000 to $480,000, Hesemann said. Nearly 40 have been sold — some to alumni, some to builders. David Rocker, who graduated in 1984 with a degree in industrial engineering, is among the buyers. He thought the opportunity to live among other Tech alumni was too good to pass up. Several of his college friends also bought lots. "I'm real excited about the social interaction and the camaraderie," said Rocker, 42, an executive with a staffing firm. "It's just going to be a real unique neighborhood."