Kraft Construction (www.kraftconstruction.com) celebrated its 40^th anniversary Thursday evening by hosting community and industry officials at its corporate headquarters in Naples.

The company looked back and reflected on how the area grew as did the firm, which was ranked among the top 100 largest contractors in the U.S. Kraft Construction has helped to reshape its hometown.

Kraft’s diversified portfolio of projects includes: K-12 and university schools, government and institutional buildings; churches, recreational parks, hospitals, mixed-use and assisted living facilities; and hotels and luxury high rise condos, financial institutions and numerous projects on Fifth Avenue in downtown Naples.

Individual projects include North Collier Hospital, Ave Maria University, Collier Emergency Services Complex, Allen Systems headquarters, Collier County Courthouse and Edison College.

Founded in 1968, by George Kraft, the company was purchased by Bob Carsello in 1970, and Fred Pezeshkan joined him as a business partner in 1979.

When Carsello retired in late 2006, Pezeshkan continued as president and CEO of a thriving multi-million dollar company that had expanded their reach from Collier and Lee

counties northward into Charlotte and Sarasota counties with work in the Florida Panhandle.

In August of 2008 Manhattan Construction Group acquired Kraft Construction, a subsidiary of investment company Rooney Holdings Inc.

With that acquisition, its Tampa office became part of Kraft Construction with more than 60 employees.

Manhattan was founded in 1896 and has a portfolio of projects which includes the U.S. Visitor’s Center, the Bush Presidential Library and new Dallas Cowboy’s NFL stadium.