The years spent in college are often referred to as the best days of your life. A handful of universities are now exploring ways to re-introduce those "best days" to their alumni with the help of their athletic departments.

At Georgia Tech and about a half-dozen other schools, private developers are partnering with universities to build golfing communities aimed at alumni. The idea is to attract retiring and baby-boomer alumni back to the university community, and the payoff can be substantial. In most cases, developers assume the risk of the project, with the university and athletic department gaining a portion of the profits.

The community marketed to Georgia Tech alumni, called the Georgia Tech Club, is located 30 miles from Tech's midtown Atlanta campus. The developer gives five percent of all initiation deposits and 10 percent of the club's total operating revenue to the school, where it is split equally between the athletic department and alumni association.

Mark Hesemann, General Manager of the Georgia Tech Club, estimates those monies could reach $1 million by the time the club is running at full strength, which should be sometime in the summer of 2006. In exchange, the developer, Hilton Head, S.C.-based Melrose Co., which has built golf course communities for over 20 years, is licensed to use Georgia Tech's logo and provided access to the alumni association's mailing list.

The Georgia Tech Club will consist of a residential development with 223 homes selling at upwards of $300,000, as well as a recreation facility that will include a Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf, Stan Smith Tennis Center, and a health spa, plus an 18-hole championship golf course and clubhouse that will be home to the Yellowjackets men's and women's golf teams. Hesemann says that the Georgia Tech Club has sold more than 100 early memberships so far, with 90 percent going to Georgia Tech alumni. The cost for becoming a founding member at the Georgia Tech Club is $60,000, while a golf course membership costs $30,000.

"Founding members have their own special locker area as well as some other special recognition," says Hesemann. "They also get a discount on some real estate opportunities, and if they choose to leave the club, they are entitled to 80 percent of the going membership rate at that time."

Melrose Co. is also in the process of building a similar community, called Traditions Club, at Texas A&M. The two ventures mark the company's first forays into developments aimed at alumni.

Penn State University, meanwhile, is working on a similar project with Pinnacle Development LLC, a multi-branch development group that includes Head Football Coach Joe Paterno on its board of directors. The College of William and Mary is also starting to consider the idea. "The more we can get people back on campus, the more the institution becomes a part of their lives," says Barry Adams, Executive Vice President of the William and Mary Alumni Association.

At Iowa State University, many alumni have retired to nearby Green Hills, a development that has been affiliated with the university for more than 20 years, and having these alumni nearby has proven profitable for the university. "These communities build donor relationships, so from a fund-raising point of view there is value," Warren Madden, the school's Vice President of Business and Finance said in an interview with USA Today. Madden notes that Iowa State has received several million dollars in donations over the years from alumni residing in the Green Hills community.

In a similar vein, Atlanta-based Gameday Centers is developing condominiums and marketing them to alumni of the University of Georgia as places to stay during home football game weekends. An eight-story, 130,000-square foot condominium complex three blocks from Georgia's Sanford Stadium is slated for completion in September.

Gameday pays the UGA Athletic Association one percent of all condo sales, says Avery McLean, UGA's Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Licensing. In exchange, the association sends out mailings that advertise the condos to season ticket holders, giving them first crack at securing lodging near the sold-out stadium.

Of the 133 units, which range from $143,000 to $500,000, McLean says that fewer than 10 are still available. He estimates that two-thirds of sales were made to Georgia season ticket holders or alumni. Gameday has also built condos near stadiums at Auburn University, the University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, and Florida State University. Owners who use the condos on gamedays also have the option of renting them out to other people on a daily or weekly basis.

In addition to the obvious monetary rewards, McLean is also excited to have the opportunity to reach out to UGA football season ticket holders. "Hotel space is always at a premium in Athens, so we think this will provide some of these people with a guaranteed living space for the home football games," says McLean. "We're also in the process of exploring other kinds of opportunities that could present themselves such as tapping into an ongoing revenue stream like rental revenue sharing."

For more information go to: www.gamedaycenters.com.