What Madison Development Group does

Madison Development Group LLC (MDG) is a privately-held real estate development firm founded in 1998 by Thomas M. Lee and Jim Gallaugher and headquartered in Issaquah, Washington. The firm develops commercial and multi-family real estate — specifically office, industrial, retail, and multi-family properties — with a stated specialty in repositioning difficult and underutilized sites through innovative design and tenanting. Project scope ranges from small single-tenant retail buildings to regional power centers and large mixed-use developments, exemplified by Spruce (a 427,000-square-foot, 216-home West Seattle project anchored by the neighborhood's first LA Fitness), as well as multi-family assets such as Element 42, Excelsior, and Luna. Active and completed project locations span at least 12 U.S. states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Montana, California, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas) for a footprint of 50+ sites.

MDG's core business model is direct real estate development for own-account holding or lease/sale to national tenants, with revenue mechanics grounded in developer fees, sale proceeds, and rental income from held properties rather than service subscriptions or transactional commissions. Pricing is project-specific and quote-based and is not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market is exclusively direct: long-standing relationships with national retail and consumer brands — Petco, Starbucks, Costco, Home Depot, Safeway, Kroger, LA Fitness, Ulta Beauty, and 20+ other named tenants — generate a recurring build-to-suit pipeline without reliance on traditional marketing channels. The firm runs an asset-light operating model with 1-10 employees, executing construction through external contractors while preserving developer margin and institutional knowledge in-house. Each co-founder has personally developed or redeveloped over 5 million square feet of commercial property in the past 20 years; the Lee family has been building in the Northwest since 1950. A $61 million funding round (disclosed 2026-06-08 with investors and lead undisclosed) provides capital for continued development pipeline expansion.

Name

Madison Development Group

Legal name

Madison Development Group LLC

Website

https://mdgllc.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Madison Development Group is a privately-held, Issaquah-based real estate development firm founded in 1998 that builds commercial, retail, industrial, and multi-family projects across the Western US for national tenant brands including Starbucks, Costco, and Petco.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Real Estate Development

SIC

Land Subdividers & Developers (No Cemeteries) (6552)

akta.pro primary industry

Urban Renewal, Brownfield Redevelopment & Land Reuse (BPAIANAI)

Keywords

• Commercial real estate development
• Multi-family development
• Retail property development
• Mixed-use properties
• Industrial warehouse development

Headquarters

HQ city

Issaquah

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Madison Development Group is a commercial and multi-family real estate development firm that develops office, industrial, retail, and mixed-use properties across the Western United States. The company specializes in acquiring and redeveloping difficult and underutilized properties into retail power centers, single-tenant buildings, warehouses, office buildings, and multi-family residential projects for national brand tenants.

Product overview

Madison Development Group (MDG) is a Seattle-based commercial and multi-family real estate development firm founded in 1998. The company operates as a single integrated offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. MDG's core business is developing commercial real estate across four main property types: multi-family residential (e.g., Spruce with 216 homes), retail (single-tenant and power centers), industrial (warehouses), and office properties. The company takes an innovative approach to developing difficult and underutilized properties, often with the intent to hold rather than sell. Their portfolio includes projects across multiple states including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, and Montana. Notable named products include Spruce (multi-family), Element 42, Excelsior, Luna, and various retail developments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Commercial Real Estate Development End-to-end real estate development services including site identification, design, construction, leasing, and property management for office, industrial, retail, and multi-family projects across the Western United States. Targets national retail tenants, office tenants, industrial users, and mixed-use property operators.
• Spruce A 427,000 square foot mixed-use, residential development in West Seattle featuring 216 homes, West Seattle's first L.A. Fitness Health Club, community room, courtyard, game room, theater room, rooftop dog-run, stainless steel appliances, and quartz countertops. Targets urban residential tenants and national fitness/retail tenants.
• Multi-Family Properties Multi-family residential developments including apartment complexes often paired with retail space. Examples include Element 42 in West Seattle, Excelsior on Capitol Hill, and Luna in Seattle. Targets urban residential renters and ground-floor retail tenants.
• Retail Properties Retail real estate developments including single-tenant retail buildings and regional power centers such as Petco locations, Safeway stores, and shopping centers including the Auburn Retail Super Mall. Targets national retail tenants and consumer-facing brands.
• Industrial Properties Industrial real estate developments including warehouses and distribution facilities for logistics and industrial users. Example project includes the East Valley Warehouse in East Valley, WA. Targets logistics, distribution, and industrial tenants.
• Office Properties Office real estate developments including office buildings and mixed-use office properties for commercial tenants in the Northwest. Targets commercial office tenants.

Named customers30 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• PetcocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational pet supply retailer with long-standing relationship as tenant in MDG developed properties. MDG has developed multiple Petco locations across the Western US.
• StarbuckscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational coffee chain as tenant in MDG retail developments. Multiple Starbucks locations developed within MDG shopping centers.
• SafewaycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational grocery chain with multiple locations in MDG developed properties including Safeway in Pullman, WA and Spokane Safeway.
• Home DepotcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational home improvement retailer occupying space in MDG developments such as Sequim Village Marketplace.
• CostcocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational warehouse club as tenant including Sequim Costco location developed by MDG.
• LA FitnesscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational fitness chain tenant including North Seattle LA Fitness and West Seattle L.A. Fitness at Spruce development.
• KrogercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational grocery retailer as tenant in MDG retail developments.
• Ulta BeautycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNational beauty retailer as tenant in MDG shopping center developments.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wright Runstad & Company: Seattle-based, privately-held commercial real estate developer focused on office, industrial and mixed-use properties in the Pacific Northwest. Closest geographic and product-market peer to MDG, also family-influenced and tenant-driven.
• Vulcan Real Estate: Seattle-based developer (formerly part of Vulcan Inc.) with deep Pacific Northwest portfolio spanning office, lab, residential and mixed-use. Comparable as a large, founder/principal-driven Seattle developer with multi-product capabilities.
• Unico Properties: Seattle-based commercial real estate investment and development firm with office and mixed-use focus in the Pacific Northwest. Direct regional peer with overlapping product mix and tenant orientation.
• Schnitzer West: Pacific Northwest-based commercial real estate developer specializing in office, industrial and mixed-use properties. Direct regional peer to MDG with similar product focus and tenant-relationship-driven origination.
• Continental Properties: Privately-held U.S. developer of multi-family, retail and mixed-use properties with a tenant-driven national retail relationships model. Highly comparable to MDG's combination of multi-family and retail-anchored developments.
• Opus Group: Privately-held national real estate developer with integrated development, design and construction capabilities across office, industrial, retail and multifamily. Closely comparable to MDG's full-stack development approach and multi-product portfolio.
• Ridge Capital Development: Privately-held developer of multi-family, mixed-use and retail-anchored projects in growth markets. Comparable mid-sized tenant-driven developer with similar hold-for-rent philosophy and national tenant relationships.

Others

• Westport Capital Partners: Real estate investment manager focused on opportunistic and value-add commercial properties across the U.S. Comparable to MDG's appetite for difficult and underutilized assets, though primarily an investor/manager rather than principal developer.

Broad incumbents

• Goodman Group: Global industrial and commercial property developer with significant U.S. footprint in logistics/warehouse development. Comparable to MDG's industrial property line and to its hold-for-rent strategy, though at much larger institutional scale.
• Trammell Crow Company: One of the largest privately-held commercial real estate developers in the U.S., with deep multi-product capabilities across office, industrial, retail and multifamily. Highly comparable to MDG in product mix and tenant-driven development model, but operates at vastly larger scale with institutional capital backing.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/madison-development-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Madison Development Group