<p>PARENTS SEE SWANKY LIVING AS A REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT.</p>
<p>By LINDSEY FRANCO
Alligator Writer</p>
<p>UF alumni are shelling out big bucks to spend football game weekends in Gainesville - and their checks aren't going to local hotels. </p>
<p>More and more alumni are buying upscale condos within walking distance of UF's campus, and developers are happy to keep up with the demand. </p>
<p>"This provides a unique opportunity for some of the more affluent Bull Gators and alumni to basically come back and enjoy the environment in a first-class, first-rate condominium development," said Henry Rabell, a University Corners sales representative. </p>
<p>Construction of the University Corners condos, at the corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street, is set to begin this Spring. </p>
<p>Condos will range from the high $400,000s to about $800,000, but Rabell said University Corners also offers an option for the more economic buyer: the condo-hotel. </p>
<p>With the condo-hotel, the owner signs a contract with a hotel management company, which rents out the condo and splits the profit with the owner. Condo-hotels range from the low $200,000s to about $400,000 for larger units, Rabell said. </p>
<p>"It enables that Gator who is in town maybe six to 12 days out of the year to own a condo, yet have some sort of a cash flow so they're not just paying for a condo to stay empty," Rabell said. </p>
<p>Aside from weekenders, UF parents are also investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure lavish homes for their students. </p>
<p>A quarter of buyers at the year-old St. Charles condominiums were alumni buying for their kids, said Eric Wild, the community's sales representative and property manager. </p>
<p>A two-bedroom condo at St. Charles costs $200,000, while a two-bedroom condo at its ritzier sister condo development, Jackson Square, will cost $300,000. It draws an affluent clientele. </p>
<p>"They're not used to buying the Wal-Mart version of everything," Wild said. "It's the same reason they buy a BMW instead of a Toyota - it's just the little niceties that make it better for them." </p>
<p>The little niceties include 10-foot ceilings, granite countertops, steel kitchen appliances, ceramic floor tiles and French doors. </p>
<p>Jackson Square will sit three blocks north of campus, and construction is due to be finished by May 2007. </p>