How It All Started
You could have called Thomas Mahaffey Jr. old-fashioned and he would not have argued with you. We proudly employ the same formula for apartment building today that he did when he started in the 1940s. "We rent apartments for less than the market prices, get a partner to eliminate our land cost and we build for less," said Mahaffey in 1991.
Mahaffey was the patriarch of apartment developers in Florida. Arriving in 1962 from his native Indiana, he built more than 11,000 units. Year in, year out, through good times and bad, the occupancy rate of Mahaffey apartments has remained steady at 99% plus, an incredible figure in an industry where the national average is about 90%.
In 1991 you could ask the amiable Mahaffey about the secret behind that performance and he described a formula so simple that it would seem like a blueprint for his competitors. Still to this day, The Mahaffey Apartment Company builds on waterfront property. Each is built, leased and managed by the Mahaffey Apartment Company which takes painstaking detail to assure that each project is attractively landscaped and well-tended.
Thomas Mahaffey Jr.
1910 – 1990
The Mahaffey Theater
Jim Mahaffey
(1936-2020)
&
Mark Mahaffey
Jim Mahaffey was attracted to the apartment business through the energy and magnetism of Tom Mahaffey. Bidding farewell to Tulane Law School and Indiana School of Law, he chose to join his father in the creation of the Mahaffey Company. Carlton Towers in St. Petersburg was the first Mahaffey apartment development. Since 1962, Jim was involved in all aspects of the development, construction and management of Carlton Arms Communities.
In 1969, Mark Mahaffey, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a U.S. Naval officer veteran, decided to join his father and brother in the family business. He became involved in all phases of the various Mahaffey Company Communities. From 1990 to 2018 the planning, development, construction, marketing and management of all Carlton Arms Communities were under the brothers’ joint control.
He has taken the family concept and applied it to the business world with great success. He runs Mahaffey Company like a family.
Thomas Mahaffey Jr., Tampa Bay Times
The company is distinguished by the total involvement of its principals in the creation of each community, from initial site selection through architectural planning, development, construction and marketing. This hands-on approach continues as The Mahaffey Company retains ownership and management responsibilities. The result of this strictly disciplined strategy from well over half of a century of steady, well-paced growth, in a collection of attractive, well-managed and well-maintained apartment communities. A sound family foundation keeps company principals active in all phases and functions of the enterprise and creates stability and continuity that eschews titles and narrow lines of responsibility. In addition to varied experiences throughout the company, each family member also enjoys a resident’s-eye-view, as each has lived in a Carlton Arms Apartment Community.
Philanthropy
The Mahaffey family is heavily involved in philanthropic activities. The Mahaffey Theatre at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts bears the family’s name after its renovation in 1987 in St. Petersburg, FL where the company is headquartered. Mark Mahaffey was recently honored and inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame based on his business and community involvement. Mahaffey family members personally support their preferred charities and often serve on boards as active members in their local communities.
