The Meldman Playbook
Bringing the Discovery Land model to new audiences
Mike Meldman, founder of Discovery Land, figured out the model thirty years ago with projects like Yellowstone Club, Baker’s Bay and Silo Ridge.
Build a private residential community around a signature amenity, like golf courses or skiing
Sell the homes
Retain the club operations
Collect initiation fees, annual dues, and management fees in perpetuity
Discovery Land now operates 35-plus communities worldwide, sells homes between $3 million and $50 million, charges $300,000 initiations and $40,000 in annual dues, and generates north of $2 billion in annual sales. Tom Brady and Reese Witherspoon are residents. And George Clooney co-founded a tequila brand with Meldman that sold to Diageo for a billion dollars.
Meldman proved that a branded residential community is not a real estate project — it’s a platform made up of real estate + brand + management.
Now a new generation of developers is importing his playbook into markets and price points Discovery Land couldn’t touch. The model is the same but the entry point is different; and for investors, the economics might actually be better.
The models are all a bit different, but generally work like this:
A developer builds a branded community of 15 to 40 homes around a specific lifestyle: golf, outdoor adventure, desert weekends, ski access
They sell a portion of the homes to lower their cost basis and recoup development capital
The remaining homes stay in the portfolio as professionally managed short-term or mid-term rentals, generating cash flow at rates well above conventional residential
The developer earns management fees on the entire community, both the homes they own and the homes they sold, covering everything from housekeeping and concierge to rental operations and maintenance.
For the homebuyer, the value proposition is equally clean: a beautiful home with resort-grade amenities in a rising market, professionally managed and cash-flowed as a rental when they’re not there, ideally covering the mortgage.
Three groups are executing versions of this right now, and each one takes a slightly different angle.
Teton Outing Club
Cardinal Lands is developing 30 luxury townhomes averaging 2,600 square feet on Ski Hill Road in Driggs, minutes from Grand Targhee and a short drive from Jackson Hole. Homes are priced 70% percent below comparable Jackson Hole properties.
The club is built around outdoor adventure: gear storage, a trip-planning library, recovery spaces, and a tradition of organized group outings punctuated by celebratory dinners.
Birdie Houses
Birdie Houses is building a portfolio of premium vacation rental homes in iconic golf destinations, each outfitted with amenities you’d find at a tour player’s private compound.
The flagship property in Pinehurst has a 6,000-square-foot short-game facility built by Celebrity Greens (the same team that built greens for Jon Rahm and Max Homa), an indoor simulator with Foresight launch monitors and PuttView augmented reality putting, Callaway wedges and Odyssey putters in every room, a sauna, cold plunge, humidor, and outdoor bar.
Polo Villas
Build to Stay — led by Jerry Coleman, the cofounder of Invitation Homes — is applying the institutional BTR playbook to vacation rentals.
Polo Villas is their first project: 18 custom luxury homes on half-acre lots adjacent to the Coachella festival grounds, each with five to seven bedrooms, pools, pickleball courts, putting greens, and outdoor kitchens. Villas rent for $1,450 to $1,650 per night on standard dates, with Coachella and Stagecoach weekends commanding significantly more.
Discovery Land proved it at the $10 million price point. These groups are proving it works at $500,000 to $2 million, in markets where the underlying real estate fundamentals are already accelerating.