At 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, the 35,000-square-foot amenities center in the Village of Deaton Creek is a hive of activity.

Jim Davidson has plenty of company in the fitness center as he takes his brisk walk on the treadmill. Davidson likes to listen to music through his earphones as he strides and gazes over the swimming pool to the leafy hardwoods beyond.

Hyosub Shin / AJC (ENLARGE)

Prices at Deaton Creek range from $200,000 to $500,000. A $189 monthly fee covers all amenities, including the fitness center and basic lawn care.

Hyosub Shin / AJC (ENLARGE)

Part of the appeal of the Village at Deaton Creek is its facilities, which allow residents to be as active or laid-back as they'd like. Metro Atlanta's top-selling community is up for one of the National Association of Home Builders' top design awards for 50-plus communities.

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"It's just beautiful up here," said the retired insurance executive, 66, who moved to Deaton Creek in Hoschton near Chateau Elan from his former home in Lawrenceville last year.

Nearby, Mary K. McCranie — who moved from Marietta with her husband in December — is taking her twice-weekly swim in the indoor lap pool.

In 2007, Deaton Creek was metro Atlanta's top-selling community, according to Metrostudy, a research firm that tracks new-home sales throughout the area. Now, with a growing population of more than 800 people, the development is poised to receive one of the National Association of Home Builders' top design awards for 50-plus communities.

Judges praised Deaton Creek's focus on its community's particular interests, such as the fenced dog park next to the softball field and the way the development incorporates miles of natural walking trails along the creek.

Del Webb, the division of Pulte Homes that developed the Village at Deaton Creek, pioneered the concept of retirement living a half-century ago. Deaton Creek's only competition for the Home Builders' top award, to be announced May 20, is another Del Webb community in Arizona.

And with the coming wave of baby boomers, the company has refined and updated its recreation-oriented design to create moderately priced communities devoted to fitness, sociability and just plain fun.

Prices at Deaton Creek range from $200,000 to $500,000. A $189 monthly community fee covers all amenities, including the extensive fitness center and basic lawn care.

Two other Del Webb communities are under development in metro Atlanta. Del Webb's signature Sun City brand in Griffin currently houses about 120 residents. But with 3,000 homes in the works, thousands will eventually live there. About 100 occupants are in place in Del Webb at Lake Oconee, which will have about 866 homes at completion.

David Vitek, vice president for operations at Del Webb Georgia, said each of the three communities has a distinct personality that allows residents to select a location that best suits them and still get the recreational lifestyle the company is known for.

"I've traveled all over the country visiting Del Webb communities, and there are none more beautiful than the three we have in Georgia," Vitek said.

Although the other communities are still developing their amenities, Deaton Creek has evolved into a bustling community with more than 120 active clubs and an exhaustive daily schedule of events, meetings and excursions.

Marge Kletzel, 58, moved from the San Diego area to Deaton Creek last year after her husband died. She wanted to be closer to her daughter in Marietta.

But most of her life revolves around a range of community activities from boccie ball to needlework. Kletzel also participates in Deaton Creek's singles club and will join an upcoming group trip to Santa Fe, N.M.

"I can be too busy," Kletzel said. "Sometimes, I have to stay home one night to get something done."

Although most of Deaton Creek's residents are retired, its proximity to Atlanta has attracted a higher percentage of working residents than is the norm for Del Webb communities.

About 30 percent of Deaton Creek's residents work full time or part time, lifestyle director Lori Twiss said.

At Sun City Peachtree in Griffin, the golf course designed by Gary Stephenson will open this summer, Vitek said, and the 45,000-square-foot amenities center will open in early 2009.

The Lake Oconee dock and boat ramp is expected to be launched with a June celebration.

Marilynn Motley, senior vice president and strategic counsel at Edelman Public Relations, specializes in tracking the habits of the nation's 78 million baby boomers, now between 48 and 62. She said the popularity of active adult communities speaks to many of the age group's characteristic traits.

Among the attractions are safety, freedom from former household responsibilities and access to social and recreational activities.

"It brings a vital lifestyle they can't find anywhere else," Motley said.

Active adult communities are selling better in the current economic climate than many other types of development because their target buyers have access to savings, years of home equity from the appreciation of family homes and inheritance that younger home buyers don't have.

"Many of them have been planning this for many years," Motley said.

Eugene James, director of Metrostudy's Atlanta region, said the area may soon replace Florida as a retirement destination of choice.

"Here in Atlanta, we're becoming a larger and larger player in terms of retirees," James said. "It used to be Florida, but things like insurance and taxes are changing that."