Local Construction Firm Has New National Partner -- Mccarthy Joins Forces With Sdl, In Stock Buy

SDL Corp., a Bellevue-based construction company, has acquired a new partner: McCarthy, one of the nation's largest construction companies.

McCarthy, based in St. Louis, yesterday agreed to purchase the stock of SDL partner Ed Dean, who plans to retire at the end of this year. The agreement gives McCarthy, a company with annual revenue of $850 million, a 50 percent ownership in SDL. The purchase price of the stock was not disclosed.

David Lowry will remain president and chief executive officer of SDL. He also will retain a 50 percent ownership in the company. SDL also will retain its name.

SDL, founded in 1975, employs more than 250 and has seen its annual revenue rise from $45 million to about $125 million over the past four years.

``That kind of growth really took us to the edge of our capabilities,'' said Joe Constance, vice president of marketing for SDL. ``There have been a lot of projects outside our scope and capability that, with McCarthy as partner, will now be possible for us to undertake.''

In the past 15 years, SDL has built more than 1,100 projects throughout Washington state, including light industrial and tenant-improvement projects, as well as high-rise residential buildings, offices, business parks, retail centers, hotels and public-works projects.

Current projects include the 24-story Newmark Tower in downtown Seattle, a 160,000-square-foot Boeing Flight Test Building, a

renovation of Crescent Foods' offices in Kent and a Starbucks Coffee Co. store in Crossroads Mall.

With McCarthy, the company will be able to diversify into other areas such as hospital construction and high-tech projects, Constance said. McCarthy has done more than 250 hospital construction projects nationwide.