Thomas P. Murphy Jr., the founder and longtime head of the luxury builder powerhouse Coastal Construction, is passing the reins to his sons.
Murphy, who founded the Miami-based construction firm in 1988, tapped his sons Sean and Thomas C. Murphy to lead the company as co-CEOs, according to a news release. Thomas P. Murphy will stay on as chairman of the executive board. His third son, the former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, joined the family business as chief investment officer after losing a run for U.S. Senate to Marco Rubio.
Sean and Thomas C. Murphy started their careers with Coastal while still in school. They have served as co-presidents of the firm for the past 11 years, the release shows.
Thomas P. Murphy started his first construction business, Seaboard Construction, when he was 20 years old. He sold it to Turner Construction Company in 1986 and founded Coastal two years later with a focus on luxury construction, according to published reports.
Since then, he’s grown Coastal into one of Florida’s largest general contractors, and has completed more than 50 million square feet of vertical construction in projects statewide across commercial, residential, hospitality and institutional asset classes.
Coastal’s completed buildings include the Four Seasons Residences at the Surf Club in Surfside, Faena House in Miami Beach, Fendi Château Residences in Surfside and Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach. The contractor’s current projects include Steve Ross’ South Flagler House in West Palm Beach, the Witkoff family’s Shore Club Private Collection in Miami Beach and Gil Dezer’s Bentley Residences in Sunny Isles Beach.
The firm reports a pipeline of $7.5 billion in work, and a three-year pipeline of $17.5 billion in work.
The announcement marks a succession move by one of the region’s most powerful players and a member of The Real Deal’s South Florida Top 100.
It’s another example of the mantle being passed to children in real estate, an industry where family ties run deep.
Earlier this year, Don Peebles, the chairman and CEO of Miami Beach-based Peebles Corporation, promoted his children to the C-suite in a succession-planning move. In January, Daniel de la Vega was named CEO of One Sotheby’s International Realty, the brokerage firm his mother Mayi de la Vega founded nearly 20 years ago.
