LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - There are signs of the economic recovery in Lehigh Acres. A developer wants to turn an open plot of land into a bustling business and residential center.

It's a 30-acre grass field, situated across from Majestic Golf Club, and one of the biggest developments Lehigh has seen since the economic crash.

Barraco and Associates wants to transform the grassy field into a mixed planned development of stores, offices and apartments.

"It's kind of your standard shopping center/grocery store site," Michael Roeder said, Director of Zoning and Land Use Planning at Knott, Consoer, Ebelini, Hart & Swett, P.A  "There are several outparcels, and  two buildings that would be retail and office, with up to 180 apartments above."

Leaders are optimistic at the possibilities and the long-term impact it would have.

"If you can leave your home, travel down your elevator, go get a quart of milk , go get your hair done, and buy a pair of shoes without getting out of your car, we save a lot of traffic on Homestead Road or in the community, pollution, gasoline, so on and so forth," Edd Weiner, CEO of the Lehigh Acres Economic Development Board and Chair of the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Panel.

The Panel discussed preliminary details Wednesday night, and presented their own questions and recommendations.

But it's hard to forget the scars left behind from the recession: foreclosures, abandoned homes , and failed businesses.  Can leaders ensure this project won't suffer the same fate?

"There's no way I can say to this developer, you've got to make sure the first ten apartments you sell are going to be occupied for the next 20 years," Weiner said. "There is just no way to do that. I think the economy drives the train and I think you are going to see that things will be changing to the point where that guarantee you just asked about is almost already built in."

Those behind the project are confident it's needed.

"Lehigh has more than enough single-family homes and not enough apartments, so this is an attempt to take it a next step into the future," Roeder said.

As far as breaking ground, that might take some time. Planners have to meet all the zoning requirements, and eventually find a developer to take on the project.