A long time ago I made one for the community, but someone wasn't a fan of the idea so I deleted it.. The idea's come up again from someone else recently and I think it'd make sense to leverage a platform like this for the group, it will be helpful in staying in touch, collaborating, etc etc as you mention.
I've went ahead and created a server for us - we'll see how much its used but I'm happy to chat with folks there
Will post an announcement - I've added a widget to the side of site that also shows who is online/etc over there.
Thanks for sharing your thought here as well. Peace!