CFHI Coast Finl Hldgs (MM)

BRADENTON, Fla., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Coast Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFHI), parent company of Coast Bank of Florida, today announced that it has agreed to lease eight former bank branches, subject to regulatory approval. The expansion will mark the Bank's entrance into Hillsborough and Polk counties with three branches in Hillsborough County and two branches in Polk County. The eight sites also include two in Pinellas County and one in Manatee County. The eight new locations will bring Coast's branch total to 20 offices in the greater Tampa Bay area. "We have been actively pursuing the excess branches left as a result of recent bank mergers in our area and are pleased to announce that we are leasing eight sites," said Brian Peters, president and CEO. "All of these locations are currently vacant and will require only a limited amount of renovation to bring them up to our standards. The timing of the opening of these branches is largely dependent on the placement of qualified staff, although we expect to gain possession of all of the locations in late December. While these new branches will keep us busy over the next 12 months, we will continue to evaluate additional branching opportunities in these counties, as well as Sarasota, Pasco and Hernando counties as they become available." About the Company As of June 30, 2005, Coast Financial Holdings, Inc. had $468.3 million in total assets and through its banking subsidiary, Coast Bank of Florida (http://www.coastfl.com/), currently operates 12 full-service banking locations in Manatee and Pinellas County, Florida. Coast Bank of Florida is a commercial bank that provides full-service banking operations to its customers from its headquarters location and from branch offices in Bradenton, Palmetto, Longboat Key, Seminole, Kenneth City and St. Petersburg. This press release and other statements to be made by the Company contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, including but not limited to statements relating to projections and estimates of earnings, revenues, cost-savings, expenses, or other financial items; statements of management's plans, strategies, and objectives for future operations, and management's expectations as to future performance and operations and the time by which objectives will be achieved; statements concerning proposed new products and services; and statements regarding future economic, industry, or market conditions or performance. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "believe," expect," anticipate," project," and conditional verbs such as "may," "could," and "would," and other similar expressions or verbs. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, beliefs, estimates, and projections regarding the Company, its industry and future events, and are based upon certain assumptions made by management. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and necessarily are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors (many of which are outside the control of the Company) that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: changes in general economic or business conditions, either nationally or in the State of Florida, changes in the interest rate environment, the Company's ability to successfully open and operate new branches and collect on delinquent loans, changes in the regulatory environment, and other risks described in the Company's Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 and as described from time to time by the Company in other reports filed by it with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only to the date on which the statement is made, and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. If the Company does update any forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect to that statement or any other forward-looking statements. Contacts: Brian P. Peters, President and CEO Brian F. Grimes, EVP and CFO 877-COASTFL 877-COASTFL DATASOURCE: Coast Financial Holdings, Inc. CONTACT: Brian P. Peters, President and CEO, , or Brian F. Grimes, EVP and CFO, , both of Coast Financial Holdings, Inc., 1-877-COASTFL Web site: http://www.coastfl.com/

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