The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Yacht Club and the University Club of Milwaukee have made an agreement that will allow members of both clubs to use each other’s facilities.

“We’re trying to create more value,” said Ed Purcell, commodore of the Yacht Club to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Hopefully we will boost membership for both organizations.”

This announcement follows a similar one recently from the Wisconsin Club and Brynwood Country Club. In that agreement, the Wisconsin Club said it hoped to buy Brynwood over a two-year period.

In the case of the Yacht Club and the University Club, there is no merger of financial or operational obligations. Instead, the two clubs have a joint operating agreement focusing on member benefits.

Both clubs are located downtown near Lake Michigan but have different amenities. The Yacht Club, at McKinley Marina, has a restaurant, pool and meeting rooms. The University Club, on E. Wells St., has dining and meeting facilities, hotel rooms, indoor parking and access to a fitness facility at University Towers.

According to the Sentinel, the Yacht Club currently has 388 members, down from 541 in 2001, while the University Club has 600, down from 750 two years ago. Only 11 people have memberships in both clubs.

“Clubs need to reinvent themselves,” said Fred Fletcher, General Manager at the University Club to the Sentinel. “It’s a changing environment.”