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[chronicle_moderator]

Some 30 colleges run or are otherwise affiliated with retirement communities, and two dozen more of the facilities are in development. The colleges see the typically upscale communities as ways to drum up new revenue by bringing back wealthy alumni, retired faculty members, former presidents, and the public. But experts note that the communities can pose sizable financial and legal risks for a college. A failed community can tarnish an institution's good name, and even damage its bond ratings. When is building such a community a wise use of a university's name and resources? Is it ever?
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[jamesbphillips]

I live in Athens, Ohio, where Ohio University has leased a big piece of nice, developable land to a non-profit company for the purpose of building a continuing care retirement center.

There's been a fair amount of controversy over this, and some Athens residents who live near the site have sued to try to stop the project. Some people worry about increased flooding (it's in the Hocking River floodplain), others want to save the site as green space (it's a popular recreation spot), and some people object to a state university giving up a valuable piece of property for $1 a year.

There's even talk that another commercial builder of nursing homes and retirement centers may challenge the project legally on the grounds that OU's involvement gives an unfair advantage to a competitor.

I'd be interested to hear if these types of projects have run into much local opposition elsewhere.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should confess that my curiosity isn't purely personal. I'm a local journalist and at some point I may do a story (unabashedly inspired by the Chronicle piece), putting OU's project into the context of the larger nationwide trend.