About Us

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Montgomery Street Project Before Sea Grove Beach, FL (2005)

Montgomery Street Project After Sea Grove Beach, FL (Feb. 2006)

Turtle nests present on Montgomery Street Project Sea Grove Beach, FL (July 2006)

Advanced Coastal Technologies, LLC, (ACT) is an erosion control company that has grown from an inventor’s dream to protect our nation’s shoreline. Almost three decades ago, out of a love for the sea and the shore, he began observing, experimenting, and developing products to mitigate coastal erosion and restore shore habitat. Together, Jay Sample and his wife, Pam, built a cottage industry to meet the demands of restoration along a disappearing coastline. They worked wonders, one property at a time. Employing coastal engineers and professional contractors, testing and gaining experience from each installation, Jay developed and patented state-of-the-art solutions to sand dune stabilization and coastal restoration. And, he opened the door for further innovation, including the protection of levees, and the stabilization of lake shores and inland waterways.

Simultaneously, during those three decades, an entrepreneur in the hospitality industry was building a reputation for premier development and operation of hotels, primarily Marriott brands. Larry Blumberg’s tireless efforts resulted in the development and continued expansion of Larry Blumberg and Associates, Inc. (LBA), and opened the opportunity to purchase the patents and rights to expand that ‘coastal protection’ inventor’s dream. Larry identified an Ocean Engineering graduate of the US Naval Academy, Rande Kessler, who had served as a Navy Diving and Salvage Officer, and subsequently served as a long-term Plant Manager for a major corporation, to become the CEO. The three decades of invention, entrepreneurial excellence, and engineering/managerial experience, combined to create a company not only for national, but also for international, coast and waterway applications, while simultaneously providing viable solutions to the world-wide erosion crisis.

Through a coordination of resources by ACT, coastal solutions are engineered and offered for environmentally friendly shore stabilization, habitat restoration, and property protection for ocean coastlines and inland bodies of water. ACT provides erosion solutions that are designed for the long term and to restore the natural look and stability of the ecosystem.

ACT’s technology of using Geotextile, sand-filled and water-filled devices has improved and evolved into multiple success stories along the coast from the Gulf of Mexico to as far north as Long Island, New York. Projects installed many years ago remain in place today, continuing to provide the protection for which they were designed. One such project was noted in a Florida DEP post-storm report as the “lone success story” in the property preservation of Caledon Shores condominium in Vero Beach, Florida after hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.

Today, Advanced Coastal Technologies is headquartered in Dothan, Alabama, with regional offices in Rockville, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia.