BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. - In a couple of years, hundreds of acres of empty land in Bonita Springs will be growing into what developers envision as a thriving golf community. And growing with it, local leaders hope, will be jobs.
 
The property is located on the far east edge of Bonita Beach Road. Once you get about 3-4 miles past the interstate, the pavement ends. There's not much else to see except grass and trees.  But on those acres of open land, Executive Vice President of Ronta Group Anthony Solomon sees big potential. "Probably about 1,200 to maybe 1,400 homes, units in the final mix," Solomon said.

The homes will form a golf community, with an 18-27 hole course. A risk in a recovering housing market? Not the way he sees it.

"There are a lot of homes being sold in Southwest Florida, prices have stabilized and people are going to be looking for something new," Solomon said. "There just isn't a lot of opportunity for new homes anymore and the inventory of the old homes left over from the previous boom are being eaten up pretty quickly."

To ensure it grows safely with the uncertain economy, and so they don't have to keep coming back to the council, Solomon asked the Bonita Springs City Council to extend the buildout date to July 2035. The council approved, and made a motion for a second public hearing. Councilman Bill Lonkart, whose district encompasses the project, sees it as the beginning of many more good things east of I-75.

"It will definitely bring jobs to the area when you build that number of houses and it's going to be a very positive thing," Lonkart said.

It wasn't easy getting to this point. Soon after Ronto acquired the property, the economy plummeted and it was foreclosed upon. After buying it back, and seeing conditions finally turn the corner, they're ready to start digging.

"We are hopeful that in the coming years we are going to put that behind us, look to the future and get everybody back to work in the area and enjoy the lifestyle everybody did before," Solomon said.

Solomon hopes to break ground in about a year, and hopes to have builders building in a year and a half to two years.