Southern Paving & Milling acquires Carolina Site, with Carolina Site’s president rolling equity and becoming co-president

Southern Paving & Milling (SPM) announced on October 20 that it has acquired Carolina Site, a commercial paving and pavement maintenance provider based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The deal closed in September. Carolina Site President Craig Gannaway will join SPM’s executive leadership as co-president. He will also “remain a key and meaningful shareholder in the combined business,” helping drive growth, maintain customer relationships, and “identify and execute future M&A opportunities across the Southeast.”

The asset.

Carolina Site provides asphalt paving, concrete, sitework, milling, striping and maintenance services to institutional and regional property owners, property managers and commercial customers throughout the Carolinas. The release highlights relationship-driven service, a high level of repeat business, and “recurring pavement solutions across private-sector end markets.”

Gannaway said many of Carolina Site’s customers are expanding into new markets across the Southeast. Joining SPM lets the company follow them with broader geographic reach and more capabilities.

The platform.

SPM was founded in 2011 and is based in Fort Myers, Florida. It offers asphalt paving, milling, concrete construction and repair, pavement markings and signage, and pavement maintenance. Its customers span public and private work, including departments of transportation, municipalities, commercial and industrial properties, homeowners’ associations, construction firms and institutions.

Chicago-based 5th Century Partners invested in 2025. When it announced the deal, the firm said SPM had more than 160 employees and operations across Florida and Georgia, and that founder Daniel Banks’ family kept an equity position. 5th Century’s stated thesis was “essential maintenance and repair services” with recurring, predictable demand. SPM Co-President Alex DeMarco said the company has “experienced significant growth over the past year,” and the release calls Carolina Site “an important milestone” in its Southeast expansion strategy.

Maintenance revenue and a seller who stays to buy.

Two parts of this deal stand out for owners.

The first is the revenue profile. 5th Century’s thesis centers on pavement that needs constant upkeep. As Alex DeMarco, then SPM’s CEO, told the firm in 2025, highways, streets and parking lots need ongoing maintenance because of normal wear and tear, weather and other adverse events. Carolina Site fits that profile, with property-manager and institutional customers, repeat business, and maintenance services alongside paving and sitework. Buyers value that kind of mix differently from one-off, bid-driven construction work, the same distinction we have drawn in HVAC and mechanical.

The second is the role the seller takes after closing. Gannaway keeps a meaningful stake in the combined business, becomes co-president of the platform, and takes on part of the M&A job across the Southeast. That is how a sponsor turns a first add-on into a regional platform: the seller’s second payment depends on the whole platform growing, and the seller helps source the deals that grow it. For a seller, that means the questions about rollover and governance count as much as the cash at close. What percentage is rolled? Is it in the same class of equity as the sponsor’s? What decision rights come with the co-president title? What happens to the shares if the role changes?

The civil M&A environment.

SPM’s announcement came the morning after NASDAQ-listed Construction Partners bought S.E. Cline Construction, a Palm Coast, Florida site development and underground utility contractor. That deal included a permitted, rail-served asphalt plant site. The day before, we covered Craft Work Capital’s first civil platform, Alpha Infrastructure, in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Public road builders, PE-backed pavement platforms and MEP-focused investors are all now competing for Southeast and Mid-Atlantic site, paving and utility contractors. More on that buyer pool is on our Civil & Site Development page.

What it means.

For commercial paving, pavement maintenance, striping and site contractors in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, SPM is now a funded buyer with a closed Carolinas deal and a former seller helping it look for the next one. Owners whose work is weighted toward private property maintenance, with repeat customers rather than one-off bids, are the profile this kind of sponsor is underwriting. Before taking the first call, know how much of your revenue comes from repeat maintenance customers, how concentrated the customer list is, and whether you want a full exit or a role and equity in what comes next.

No purchase price, revenue, or EBITDA was disclosed.