Based on observation, I would say few things like this last. But it can be wonderful while it lasts, although it usually ends with major disputes (I say this as a veteran of lay communities). Part of the problem is that there is no model for this and therefore nobody really knows how to go about it; they’re not a religious order, but what are they?
This is not the first community like this in Florida. Less than 100 miles north of Ave Maria is the town of San Antonio, founded in the 19th century as a Catholic community for families, with a monastery as its center and all the education handled by an order of sisters. The monastery, St. Leo’s (Benedictine), is still there; they are associated with St. Leo’s University, the on-line studies institution, although the monastery itself still continues to raise oranges and provide retreats. They have a lovely church that they are restoring.
THe lay community broke up before the middle of the 20th century and while the sisters stayed and continued to run a school, they got flaky after VatII and are now basically a retirement center for the few elderly sisters who managed to hang on. I believe there’s still a girl’s boarding school there, or perhaps a small college, but it’s no longer staffed by the nuns.
I would say they are kind of like a religious order. We can call them Domino-cans. They have a repeatable system, good service, quality product and they don't change the menu too much which will be good in this day in age.