One of the macro sites that Vertical Bridge acquired in the acquisition is this 120-foot multi-tenant silo in Hagerstown, Maryland
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations in the United States, today announced the completion of its merger with North Carolina-based Eco-Site, a leading developer of wireless communication, tower sites and infrastructure.
The combination increases Vertical Bridge’s owned and master-leased tower portfolio to over 20,000 sites and its entire portfolio to more than 290,000 sites located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
The Company has also announced that Eco-Site co-founders Dale Carey, Bob Glosson and Rich Stern have joined the Vertical Bridge executive team, citing the Eco-Site team’s complementary skillsets to Vertical Bridge’s already-strong group of leasing and development professionals. Mr. Carey has been appointed Executive Vice President of Strategy and Convergence at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Glosson has joined as Senior Vice President of Real Estate Solutions and Mr. Stern has joined as Senior Vice President of Real Estate.
“Vertical Bridge and Eco-Site share a proven track record of success in build-to-suit, having collectively constructed well over 1,600 new towers in the last five years alone. This is the highest rate of any company in the market and a testament to our collective capabilities,” said Alex Gellman, CEO and Co-Founder of Vertical Bridge.
“The combination of Vertical Bridge and Eco-Site is truly a case of one plus one equals three, and we are thrilled to welcome Dale, Bob, Rich and their talented team to the Vertical Bridge family. We look forward to working together to continue bringing our fast, friendly and flexible service to customers as they build their 5G networks,” said Gellman.
“The wireless sector is significantly different than it was just a few years ago and scale matters more than ever when it comes to being able to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Carey. “I’ve known the Vertical Bridge team for many years and am excited to work with them under one banner. Vertical Bridge and Eco-Site are both employee-centric, customer-focused and solutions-oriented firms. Together, we will scale faster, bring more opportunities to our customers and reach new milestones as the country’s largest private owner and operator of wireless infrastructure.”
Gellman added: “As a private, at-scale and permanent company, we have the flexibility and capital to be strategic in our growth model and we will continue to identify opportunities to expand our footprint that fit into our pure tower, pure U.S. strategy.”
Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
In August, Eco-Site debuted on the Inc. 5000 list, ranking numbewr 259, placing the company among the top 5% of America’s fastest-growing private companies. On average, organizations on the list have grown sixfold since 2016 — a stretch when the economy grew just 15%.
