new construction multifamily idea

[Javier Silva]

hello, im a hvac /plumbing contractor and have done rei in the past and present. here is my idea and question. we have a property free and clear that  is 3.5 acres with income of $2500.00 of rent per mont on 4 old buildings. we did a market analysis and plans 3 years ago to build 72 apartments. everything looks good as far as zoning and city permits. the budget was 3.2M the property itself is worth 450k and the bankers gave us green light.

we didn't move forward with it because os the risk of it, we forecasted that we would end up owing more than 2.5 M and we did not wanted to risk that much by ourselves. 2 years ago someone built 30 apartments lest than .5mille away from the property and they have 75-80% occupancy already.

talking with my wife we come up with this idea, since we know construction business owners on almost all the trades and have done business with them and a person familiar with apartment building construction on the past. we would like to form a partnership with couple of them where they can own part of the business in exchange of their work (trade) and if any one wants to be more involve and want to put hard money their % would be more.

do you think it can be done any legal issues? 

any ideas or input would be appreciated 

thanks in advance