ORLANDO, Fla. — As Universal Orlando celebrates the grand opening of Epic Universe Thursday, just a few miles away, an affordable housing community is under construction.

The 20-acre site was donated by Universal Parks and Resorts for affordable housing and workforce community. The plan is to build 1,000 apartments and various amenities.

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With that new development, there are also plans to build a transportation hub to help people commute on International Drive.

Orlando resident Ashonti Flowers says she rides the Lynx buses every day to go to work and to move around.

“I like getting around easier. And since I don’t have a car … this is really all I have,” she said.

She lives in the Metro West area and works near International Drive. It’s a long commute that takes her about two hours and she has to take two buses. She said that sometimes dealing with the bus schedules can be a challenge.

“On the schedule, it will sometimes say that the bus departed when I know it didn’t even show up at all,” Flowers said.

She said that can mean long wait times at bus stops, like Thursday, when she was waiting at the Lynx Destination Parkway Superstop.

“It could be better. I know some of the issues aren’t Lynx’s fault, but sometimes their schedules aren’t updated and they arrive late,” she said.

Right across the street from the Lynx Destination Parkway Superstop, it’s the proposed Catchlight Crossings project. According to Ryan Von Weller, chief operating officer of Wendover Housing Partners, the project will feature 1,000 high-quality affordable apartment homes, on-site amenities and services, retail and play areas, and access to transportation and nearby jobs.

“Everyone in this corridor knows that it’s very difficult to find housing for employees," Von Weller said. "Retention is very important to a lot of these industries and they can’t have it if you live two or three hours away. So having something right here at the back door is going to change the way that they can recruit and retain employees,."

A transportation center with buses, ride sharing and employer shuttles will make access to area employers more convenient for residents.

“Lynx provided some data to us that showed this particular corridor to the transfer station, which is right across the street from where we are right now, has some of the longest ride times in their entire system," Von Weller said. "So you see ride times hour and a half, two hours long with multiple transfers to get to I-Drive from various parts of Central Florida. And if you miss your bus or the bus is late and you miss your shift, you could be stuck here for hours."

That was the case for Flowers on Thursday — when she had to get on her phone and order an Uber to get to work.

“Honestly, my biggest concern is like just getting to work on time and then just going home," she said. "Like, getting into work, of course, is important on time. And then I don’t want to, like, wait around after a long day to get home."

She said that she hopes the proposed transportation hub will alleviate some of her commute in years to come.