Build an apt complex or start small somewhere else?

[Sam Wish]

Hey everyone, new here and have a few questions.. Here's the situation.. My father owns a business which is he getting ready to retire from, we own the property also which is a little less than an acre. No one looking to buy wants the business, they want the property which can and will be used to build an apt complex of at least 50 apts (on the conservative side)  and possible +100, which we've been told by the board is very likely since they want to build the area up.

Does anyone have any experience in building a complex like that from scratch, i want to get into real estate and me (his son) this could be a huge step in the right direction, we have some investors we can sit down and talk with in the near future. But figured id start here and see if anyone here has some advice for us before we proceed talking to people.  The other thing is my father wants to retire and selling the property would be his retirement money which he is afraid he may loose if we go through in getting involved in a huge project like this. I've been doing my research and from the people i've talked to they say we would be cray to walk away from this and let someone else do this exact same thing.

in the area apts range from 1250 for a single bedroom and up to 2k for a double.

I know its a very broad question but just looking to get others advice if they went through the same situation. Is a project like this even with the right people behind us too much for our first complex, how much money can be made, how much can a 100 unit complex cost to build from scratch. Would it even be best to just sell and start small somewhere else.. thanks