Mark Siffin: Innovative Leader of Maefield Development

Mark Siffin: Innovative Leader of Maefield Development

Mark Siffin acts as Chairman and CEO of the Maefield Development Platform family of companies, and has served in this capacity since the privately-owned firm’s inception in 1991. Mr. Siffin has always been interested in global markets and real estate, and his time as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange prior to joining Maefield Development prepared him for the challenges of managing a real estate development firm, as well as creating a unique, strategic vision to expand the company. His leadership, passion, and diligence have transformed Maefield Development into a successful contender in the real estate marketplace, boasting over 6 million square feet of property acquired, developed, and/or sold over the course of more than two and a half decades in operation.

The exceptional performance of Maefield Development is due to a Mark Siffin’s strategy of diversification. Rather than pigeonholing the company with restrictions on types or locations of property, or even operational boundaries, Mr. Siffin has spent the last quarter century ensuring that Maefield Development can do just about anything. Through vertical integration of services, the company is adept at planning every stage of a development project, from site selection, financing, and acquisition, to engineering and design, to permits, approvals, and construction, and finally, to building management, operational partnerships, and sales.

Mr. Siffin has also taken Maefield into both suburban and urban real estate markets, with projects spanning single-family and multi-family developments, retail and entertainment spaces, corporate offices, and more. Maefield Development started with residential developments in the early 1990s, with great success. This allowed Mr. Siffin to lead the company into larger deals in the late ’90s and early 2000s, including mixed-use spaces like a 3-block project on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA and a 600-acre urban development just outside Indianapolis, IN.

These early successes would only stoke Mr. Siffin’s fire, providing the motivation to think bigger. It was this drive that led him to keep a watchful eye on the prime real estate surrounding New York City’s Times Square. After a decade of research, Maefield Development purchased the property at 701 Seventh Avenue and entered into a deal with Marriott International to build a 450-room Edition Hotel atop 120,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space. The $1.1 billion price tag attached to this project is nothing compared to the $3 billion it is estimated to be worth upon completion, of which Maefield Development holds a 50% stake.

This, in turn, led to further acquisitions in Times Square, including a property at 1568 Broadway, completed in 2015. Around the same time, Mr. Siffin noted an opportunity to enter the energy development field with two land purchases in the Permian Basin area of Texas, totaling over 8,000 acres. This oil-rich land is currently producing 1,500 barrels per day, and production expansion is underway.

With Mr. Siffin’s innovative approach to brand building, Maefield Development has become an industry icon, proving that even a small company can compete at the highest level. His expertise and singular vision have propelled the company forward over the last two and a half decades, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.