As I make the drive from my hometown of Augusta to Atlanta along I-20, I look forward to passing over Lake Oconee. From a family of avid golfers I have frequently heard mention of the nearby planned, retirement and golf community of Reynolds Plantation. As I read this week’s reading on Sun City, Arizona, I thought the Georgia development would make for an interesting comparison.
Once a family’s private hunting retreat, Reynolds Plantation’s later construction date explains how it incorporated the lessons already learned by Sun City developers in the late 1960s. The first properties were sold in 1987 with the community built around completed amentities, including five golf courses and the member-only Lake Club, which offers residents private and exclusive access to pools, tournament-ready tennis facilities with Dartfish technology and a full-service pro shop, and eighty miles of Lake Oconee shoreline. Like the advertisements for Sun City, the promotional materials describe Reynolds Plantation as a resort.
Despite its rural setting, the community is able, like Sun City, to sell “a way of life.” For Reynolds Plantation retirees it is all about world-class luxury. The Oconee Performing Arts Society and the Linger Longer Living Cultural Lifestyle Series brings exhibitions, music, lectures, and performances to residents. Along with five star restaurants at the four additional clubhouses and the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, these amentities bring the city to residents while they enjoy the leisure of a golf community.
The Reynolds Plantation development insures that its residents have everything they need, including quality health care services and high-end commercial businesses at the master-planned Lake Oconee Village. However, there seems to be hints that the Reynolds Plantation communities are changing. In 2002 Lake Oconee Academy was opened as a charter elementary school to serve families who have built or purchased homes. While Reynolds Plantation remains predominately a retirement community, it seems that its lifestyle is increasingly appealing to white, upper-middle class and affluent families where one parent is commuting to work during the week.
For more information visit the website, including video tours.
http://www.reynoldsplantation.com/media_room/video
Once a family’s private hunting retreat, Reynolds Plantation’s later construction date explains how it incorporated the lessons already learned by Sun City developers in the late 1960s. The first properties were sold in 1987 with the community built around completed amentities, including five golf courses and the member-only Lake Club, which offers residents private and exclusive access to pools, tournament-ready tennis facilities with Dartfish technology and a full-service pro shop, and eighty miles of Lake Oconee shoreline. Like the advertisements for Sun City, the promotional materials describe Reynolds Plantation as a resort.
Despite its rural setting, the community is able, like Sun City, to sell “a way of life.” For Reynolds Plantation retirees it is all about world-class luxury. The Oconee Performing Arts Society and the Linger Longer Living Cultural Lifestyle Series brings exhibitions, music, lectures, and performances to residents. Along with five star restaurants at the four additional clubhouses and the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, these amentities bring the city to residents while they enjoy the leisure of a golf community.
The Reynolds Plantation development insures that its residents have everything they need, including quality health care services and high-end commercial businesses at the master-planned Lake Oconee Village. However, there seems to be hints that the Reynolds Plantation communities are changing. In 2002 Lake Oconee Academy was opened as a charter elementary school to serve families who have built or purchased homes. While Reynolds Plantation remains predominately a retirement community, it seems that its lifestyle is increasingly appealing to white, upper-middle class and affluent families where one parent is commuting to work during the week.
For more information visit the website, including video tours.
http://www.reynoldsplantation.com/media_room/video
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