LONGWOOD, Fla. – Greyhound racing has come to an end in Central Florida, but now the race to complete a new apartment complex in Longwood is on.

Going up will be a new 348-unit apartment complex that will span over 23 acres. The city anticipates about 600 new residents moving in to Longwood when this project is complete, and nearby businesses are hoping to benefit from their new neighbors.

Around the bend on Dog Track Road to Ronald Reagan Boulevard is Lorie Hamm’s Papa Bees Wings.  Like many small businesses in 2020, Papa Bees was mild at best, down 25% in sales from 2019.

“Food costs went sky high, all meat products went way up, and at the time we didn’t want to raise the prices,” Hamm said about her business in 2020. “That’s one thing we did do for the community is decided not to raise the prices at that time.”

But Lorie is optimistic to be sandwiched between the new Alta Cypress apartment complex being developed, as well as the new Alta Longwood complex. Combined, these two complexes according to Longwood will bring in nearly 1,100 new residents. New residents means potential new customers.

“I feel like it will be a great opportunity for everyone,” Hamm said. “Not just us, but for those businesses that weren’t so lucky.”

More orders for Papa Bees also means more money for the city.

According to Longwood Community Director Chris Kintner the Alta Cypress complex will generate over a quarter of a million dollars a year in property tax revenue.

“This being 23 acres is going to be the biggest piece that we have on the market," Kintner said. “We were excited to see it snapped up pretty quickly.”

Papa Bees also looks at the new development as a way to find new employees.

“It can be a great opportunity for us to have some new hires,” Hamm said, while working the food window. “It has been really hard for employees to come to work with all the unemployment that is being offered at this time.”

By the end of 2022 Longwood expects to have three new apartment complexes completed and the town of 16,000 is expected to increase by 10%.

Kintner says the city expects about 1.75 to two people per unit. Based on those numbers he expects about 2,000 new residents in Longwood within the next couple of years.

According to Longwood officials there is now less than 200 total acres of undeveloped land, but they are now focusing on the redevelopment of existing properties.