Realtors Welcome.

I'm Franklin Andrew Cruz, the developer of Oaks on Olive, and I'll say it plainly: buyer representation is welcomed here. If you bring a buyer, you're a partner in this community, and I want working with us to be the easiest part of your month.

Your buyers will ask about the area; the answers live in the location and due diligence center: maps, neighborhood, schools, studies, all of it.

Your buyers will love the backstory too: 101 years and 47 plans, the history of the land.

What you're selling

99 private residence compounds on walled 30 by 93 foot lots in Lakeland, pending final entitlement. Two models: a single story, 800 SF, 2 bed 2 bath, from $259K, and a two story, 1,600 SF, 4 bed 3 bath, from $399K. Every home built around privacy, courtyards, and century old oaks, two miles from Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern campus. Full details, renderings, and the development timeline live at oaksonolive.com.

The pitch that sells itself · Own for less than rent

Here's the biggest benefit to your client, and the easiest pitch of your year: at Oaks on Olive, your buyer can own for less than they're paying in rent. Pain, promise, proof, in that order. The pain: they're tired of renting. The promise: their own home, land, and walled courtyard, 2 bed 2 bath from $259K. The proof: run their real numbers right here, in front of them, in ten seconds:

The rent chips reflect published Lakeland averages, apartments around $1,459 for 1 bed, $1,585 for 2 bed, $1,822 for 3 bed (RentCafe, Rent.com, 2026), and single family homes in 33815 typically rent higher. Every number is editable, run it your way.

Estimates only, for education, not a loan offer, quote, or financial advice. Principal and interest only; taxes, insurance, and membership not included. Rates and terms come from your lender, and your numbers will differ. Pricing pending final entitlement.

Commissions

Commission structure will be published when reservations open and final pricing is released. Registered Realtors hear it first, in writing, before anyone else.

How to register

The design lineage your buyers will ask about

These homes stand on proven shoulders: Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian principles, two miles from his Florida Southern campus. Gene Leedy's courtyard and indoor outdoor living. Mies van der Rohe's less is more. And Paul Rudolph's Revere Quality House of 1948, the award winning Siesta Key home that put the courtyard inside the house, the direct ancestor of what we're building, with two differences: our butterfly roof, which Franklin has already built and won awards for, and larger walled lots. The whole story with every image is at oaksonolive.com/history.

The product board, version 11: the butterfly roof residence, the flow, the specs, the materials. It's a rendering, we're still refining it. Tap to enlarge, and you're welcome to print it.

Know who you're working with

You're going to put your name and your buyers next to mine, so you deserve the whole story, the same one I tell every buyer and every partner. Here it is.

From War Veteran to Real Estate Developer.

U.S. Army · Operation Iraqi Freedom & Operation Enduring Freedom · TEDx Lakeland Speaker

This project started with a drive. February 23, 2021. I passed a for sale sign on a piece of land, and something in me would not let it go. The real beginning, though, was decades earlier.

Before any of that, there was just me and my mom. I didn't meet my biological father until I was nineteen. For most of my childhood it was the two of us, and we came from the Jacob Riis projects in New York City. Where I'm from, owning a home isn't a dream people talk about. It isn't even a thought.

My mom brought us to Florida when I was about six, maybe seven. She met an amazing man named Eli Cruz. They dated, they fell in love, and they got married.

Not long after the wedding, the man I call my dad picked me up, set me on the table, and asked if he could adopt me. I asked what that meant. He said my name would be Cruz. I thought it over the way a kid thinks over anything important: Cruz starts with C, Padilla starts with P, and the chocolate milk line went in alphabetical order. So I said of course. Front of the line. That was the whole ceremony, and it was perfect. Franklin Padilla became Franklin Andrew Cruz.

My mother, Nancy Cruz, and me. For most of my childhood it was just us.

Then my dad showed her something she thought was impossible: a home of our own, as a family. Coming from the projects, that was everything.

The home she never imagined she could own.

My mom would not stop talking about that home. We had friends over. We had movie nights. I remember watching La Bamba with my uncles. People would come over and stay for hours. My mom cut hair at home. Everything happened at home. She loved it. We were happy.

When I was ten, my mom was pregnant with my little brother Jordan. That weekend we won our baseball tournament. I was the star player. I turned a triple play in front of her. I stayed the night at my friend Bubba's house, and the next morning the call came: come see your brother be born. When I got there, everybody was crying, and I kept thinking something had happened to my brother. Then my dad came to me and said the words I have carried ever since. Your mom just died.

Jordan lived. She didn't. I was ten years old. I never got to say goodbye, and I never got to hear her say she was proud of me. I knew she loved me. Her letters told me that. And since that day I have known one thing for certain: nobody is promised tomorrow.

What stayed with me through everything since is how happy she was in that home. It wasn't a big home. It wasn't fancy. It was hers. That is what a home is supposed to do. A home is not supposed to be stress, or tension, or a bill you're afraid to open. A home is supposed to be safety, privacy, peace, and your own land under your feet.

So when the Army taught me discipline and real estate taught me the business, one question drove all of it: how do I build that feeling for people like my mom? I could easily rent all ninety nine of these out and never sell one. Never. Not my heart. These homes are for owning.

Nancy Cruz. My mother. My first why.

I'm Franklin Andrew Cruz. U.S. Army war veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and a real estate developer with a passion for architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright's organic principles, Gene Leedy's indoor outdoor living, and Mies van der Rohe's less is more. I happen to live in Lakeland. The mission goes further. I've run my own crews for years and built everything from a Habitat home to a 41 home community, and much more. If you want the full story, it's at franklinandrewcruz.com. When you join this community, you're not dealing with a sales office. You're dealing directly with me, developer to buyer, start to finish, together with a team I chose to make sure your experience is amazing.

The part most people don't know.

I was a big Back to the Future kid. After I built Cruz Court and sold it to KB Home, every national home builder bid on that property, and I talked to all of them. What I learned changed my life: we are never getting the homes of the future. Not one of those builders had any plan for style, for a Frank Lloyd Wright, a Mies van der Rohe, a Gene Leedy. Not one. Ever.

The kid in me wanted the future. · Two miles from our site, the banner says it: the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

Elon Musk saw the same thing about space. He knew we were never going back to the moon or on to the stars the way things were going, and instead of complaining he did something about it. I decided to do the same thing with homes. So I started learning. And the first time I stood in front of a Frank Lloyd Wright home, it blew me away. A house built in the 1920s looked like it could have been built yesterday. That's when I understood that great architecture doesn't age, and great architecture can actually inspire you to be a better person.

I've been part of 30 plus developments and hundreds of real estate transactions. I went through a divorce after a 15 year marriage, and I raised two boys who are young men now, 17 and 24. At this stage of my life I want to give back. Modern homes for ordinary people, built on Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian principles, something that inspires the people who live in them. That's what my mother's joy taught me a home could be. Oaks on Olive is how I keep that promise.

A hands on developer. Every screw, every trade.

This is me with the guys during the butterfly roof build. I like being outside, on site, in the middle of it. We built the Habitat house in four months with me and four guys: sheathing, roof trusses, roofing, framing, drywall, flooring, the kitchen. I bought every material and called in every inspection myself. I want to know every detail, so I don't miss one. That's who is building your residence.

Built, not promised · Look at what's already standing

Don't take my word for anything. Every one of these is standing in Lakeland right now. Click any map link, drive by, walk the street.

Get to know me, anywhere you like

Trust isn't built on one webpage. Follow along wherever you already are, watch how I work, and decide for yourself.

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Realtor questions, answered straight

When can my buyers reserve? Reservations open after entitlement milestones are met. Priority List order decides who selects first, so register your buyers early.

Is there a model to show? Not yet. Concept renderings and the full plan are on the site now; model information will be published as vertical construction begins.

Who do I talk to? Me. You'll deal with the developer directly, start to finish. Reach out through the form and I'll be in touch, or connect at franklinandrewcruz.com.

Pricing, commissions, timelines, and availability are subject to change and pending final entitlement with the City of Lakeland. Nothing on this page is an offer or a guarantee of compensation; the published commission agreement will govern.