Good post. One of my friends at school does the equipment pooling. Unfortunately, he posts on T-Nation.
His parents own an empty store front in a strip mall. They pooled together their money and bought a lot of equipment. A power rack, squat rack, pullup/dip bar, three benches, three bars, and over a thousand lbs in weights (plates & dumbbells). Everything was secondhand and it cost no single person more than $300. They made 4 or 5 keys to the store and now they have their own gym where they meet in the mornings or evenings. It's pretty awesome...they're a very tight knit group.