Wave at Colonial project to bring 358 affordable units 

Andrew Cribbs handed over a sheet detailing how, over the past two years, he and his team raised $112 million to build a 358-unit affordable housing complex at a key intersection in the city of Fort Myers and Lee County. 

The sheet showed the numbers, but it didn’t capture the countless hours and behind-the-scenes collaboration required to assemble the financing, said Cribbs, CEO and founder of Onda Housing Group, the developer. 

“It’s no joke that it takes a village,” Cribbs said. “It takes the city of Fort Myers and Lee County, which both supported it in a big way, and the state of Florida, all the way to the federal government. The effort and the amount of people who poured their hearts into this project, there were many, many hours, late nights and early mornings.” 

Wave at Colonial celebrated its groundbreaking April 30. 

Cribbs, 36, founded Onda in February 2023 in Naples following stints working in the New York finance and California-based affordable housing sectors. Onda has financial backing from a group of Las Vegas-based investors, Cribbs said. 

Cribbs has grown Onda to 16 employees. The firm is spearheading more than $300 million in three construction projects in Lee County alone, with nearly 1,000 new affordable units in the works. 

Bayshore Pines, off Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers, should open this summer with 180 units. 

Wave at Chana will have 378 units off Daniels Parkway near Treeline Boulevard. That is a $120 million construction project with $20 million of federal money granted by Lee County through the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program. 

Wave at Colonial — “Onda” means wave in Italian — should be finished with construction by contractor Brooks & Freund by January 2028. Rents will average $500 to $600 per month less than market rate, Cribbs said. To live in Wave at Colonial or the others, a qualified household must make 60% or less of the area median income, about $55,500. Rents must be no more than 30% of household income. 

Cribbs said the company currently has about 1,200 units under construction across Collier and Lee counties, representing roughly $400 million in high-quality affordable housing. He added that another 1,800 units are in the pipeline across Southwest Florida and other markets, with projects in Naples, Palm Beach County and Pasco County expected to break ground within the next year. 

Onda paid $12.15 million for the 15-acre site at 11800 State Road 82 in December 2025. It is near the Colonial Boulevard and State Road 82 intersection. 

“We identified over 50 sites when we were looking for projects to submit and very selectively picked this location,” Cribbs said. “Right on the border of Lehigh Acres in one of the most important intersections in all of Lee County and Southwest Florida so that we can provide attainable housing for critical workers in this growing economy so they can afford to live close to where they work.” 

Lee County Commissioner David Mulicka said both the site and the project’s financial approach helped set it apart. 

“This project stood out to me when I made the nomination for funding about a year ago, because it was one of the highest number of units per dollar,” Mulicka said, noting the grant had unanimous board approval. “And you could stretch the money. They were funding most of it with other peoples’ money.” 

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass recalled meeting then President Joe Biden a week after Hurricane Ian struck and asking for federal assistance before flying over Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island with him in a helicopter. 

Pendergrass and Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson noted it is an example of a local community, the state and the federal government collaborating. 

Nearly four years later, the federal funding is flowing. 

Cribbs’ sheet outlined multiple funding sources that, in total, exceeded the construction budget because some contributions are counted more than once. He said financing for the project included $20 million in Lee County CDBG-DR funds, $39 million in LIHTC equity from U.S. Bank, a $42 million permanent loan from Citi, a $69 million construction loan from Citi Community Capital and a $62 million tax-exempt bond from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. 

Ryan Benson, vice chair of Florida Housing Finance Corp., explained how the state funding worked. 

“Florida does this differently from other states,” Benson said. “We started a bank. And we do it through public/private partnerships. Any time there’s a real estate deal, there are doc stamps. A portion of that goes to our budget. 

“Do we even have an affordable housing problem? The answer is, yes, we do. And it’s a big one. In this case, we can issue $62 million worth of bonds. We aren’t creating additional bureaucracy. We are a bank. We’re going to make more projects like this happen. This one is checking so many boxes.” 

Wave at Colonial will have 80 three-bedroom, 83 one-bedroom and 195 two-bedroom units. 

The project is a small part of an estimated 7 million affordable units Florida still needs, Cribbs said. Even with many developers working on similar projects, he added, the gap would remain significant. 

“That’s one reason we do it,” he said. “But also, it’s hugely impactful to the community, because workers can afford to live where they work. They can get the American dream of getting into a home without worrying about putting food on the table.”