A billion-dollar project put on the backburner is about to heat up. The Creative Village was part of the master plan to transform downtown Orlando.

The groundwork was laid when the former Amway Arena was imploded, but since that ademolition in 2012, the land has sat vacant without any sign of construction or development.

All of that is about to change very soon.

“I remember when they tore it down,” neighbor Lanzie Smith said.

For years neighbors have looked at a fence marking the future site of the Creative Village.

“It’s been empty for a long time,” Smith said. “It needs something over there.”

But shovels may soon be breaking ground.

“We believe we will be successful,” said Craig Ustler, Project Developer for the Creative Village. “We think, you know, we’re a project whose time has come.”

The 68-acre piece of land will be transformed into a tech-hub for business, transportation, education and residents.

While funding this billion dollar project has been caught up in the budget battle in the state legislature, there is enough money to begin laying the groundwork, which is part of phase one.

“A lot of the stuff you don’t see, which is sewers, underground utilities and very importantly, the technology of the structure – high speed internet and all of that data you have to have,” Ustler said.

This horizontal construction will serve as the base for two academic buildings for University of Central Florida and Valencia College, student housing, an apartment complex and an office building.

All of this will frame a central park in the Creative Village.

But construction won’t stop there. People who live nearby will notice the work on the roads, like Amelia Street and Parramore Avenue, as well as the expansion of the Lymmo bus route.

Not everyone is completely on board.

“There is a feeling of being pushed out,” neighbor Anna Ashie said.

But many homeowners in the immediate area agree that this development will be a positive change.

“I believe it will be all right,” Smith said.

“If there are restaurants and shopping and schools and grocery stores and things within walking distance, I think that can only benefit,” Ashie said.

While this project will have many phases and likely span more than two decades of construction, the official groundbreaking will begin next week on May 14.