Coastal Bridge Co. changes hands

Coastal Bridge Co., a 57-year-old heavy construction company, is under new ownership. Longtime employee Kelly Sills, who has been with the company more than 20 years and owns several other business ventures, acquired Coastal Bridge in late December from Robert Overall Jr. and Ed Milner Jr., who have owned it since the 1970s. “They wanted to sell; I was able to get the deal done,” says Sills, whose other ventures include local homebuilder Level Construction. “Nothing really changes. It’s kind of like no one even knows.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sills says he has no changes planned for the company or for its approximately 250 employees. But then, business is good these days. The company just finished its best year ever in 2012, with revenues of more than $70 million, and currently has a backlog of some $45 million in mostly road construction projects for the state Department of Transportation and Development. In Business Report‘s 2012 listing of the Top 100 private companies, Coastal Bridge Co. is No. 71 with reported revenue in 2011 of $46.25 million. —Stephanie Riegel