NEW YORK, NY, April 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mike James of James Capital Consulting and Chelsea Mandel have partnered to launch Ascension, a contemporary commercial real estate advisory firm that provides turnkey corporate real estate advisory services to international financial sponsors and corporate owners. The partnership shares a vision to raise the efficiency of real estate companies, strategy, access and insight to its clients and establish the gold standard for real estate consultancy firms on a global scale. In a move to double the corporate real estate space, James Capital Advisors, its existing team and infrastructure will move to Ascension along with the launch of the new company.
As a real estate extension for its client teams, Ascension provides sale-return consulting, tenant lease structuring, capital markets and market data and research services, which include real estate assets for owned and leased businesses. The company, which has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, represents clients ranging from small business owners to large multinational, privately held companies throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
James, as co-founder and CEO, oversees the growth and corporate strategy while directing the company’s vision, culture, and commitment to excellence. “No company has demonstrated its mastery of the sale leaseback and corporate real estate advisory space globally as we are on the cusp of it,” James said, adding that “the Ascension name represents our promise to set a higher standard for the real estate advisory industry and raise the bar for corporate property strategies for our clients.”
Mandel is the co-founder and managing director of Ascension, acting as an advisor to its private equity clients and financial sponsors, and leading the company’s team of 40 advisors on all lease-sale transactions and corporate real estate advisory assignments. “We invest in our people in our platform, and our technologies to deliver the best service to our customers which will translate into a superior experience and deliver the best results,” Mandel said. “We’re rebranding to a very traditionally sleepy industry.”
For James and Mandel, significant investment in the company’s best-in-class technology pool will play a key role in Ascension’s competitive advantage. The company’s proprietary CRM platform and advanced operating systems provide an unparalleled experience, promoting consistent and efficient borderless service.
About Ascension
Ascension is a corporate real estate advisory firm created to accelerate progress and achieve a higher level of real estate advisory services. With offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, the company consists of more than 60 dedicated consultants and employees whose collective goal is to raise the efficiency, strategy, reach, and vision of corporate real estate for financial sponsors and business owners globally. The company’s core offerings include sale leaseback consulting, tenant lease structuring, capital markets, market data services and research, and provides a full range of corporate real estate services and acts as a real estate extension for its client teams.
About Mike James
Mike began his career at Marcus & Millichap, a publicly traded commercial real estate brokerage, where he quickly progressed to the position of first general manager. Alongside his success came many recognitions: he became a Top 30 Agent in his first three years with the company, a Top 10 Agent within five years, and was named the Best Investment Broker in the US by Real Estate Forum and Real Capital Analytics For four consecutive years. In 2018, Mike founded James Capital Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage and advisory firm focused on collaboration, technology and innovation, a combination that fueled rapid growth. Mike and James Capital Consulting has received numerous awards and recognitions including CoStar’s Power Broker and Top Sales Firm Awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Most Powerful Brokerage Firm by Commercial Property Executive in 2021 and Best Head of CRE by GlobeSt in 2019 and 2021. In addition to founding and leading the company, Mike has achieved tremendous success as a corporate real estate broker and advisor, representing a wide variety of companies and financial sponsors in hundreds of lease-sales and corporate real estate advisory assignments.
About Chelsea Mandel
In less than a decade, Chelsea has achieved success in the lease-sale and corporate real estate advisory industry. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Chelsea began her career in the real estate acquisition team at Starwood Capital Group, rapidly prospering and gaining experience in real estate underwriting and deal negotiation. Chelsea was then hired to join New York City-based New Mountain Capital to help build the company’s new leasehold selling platform. Chelsea closed $450 million acquisitions in New Mountain and gained invaluable lease-sale expertise and credit underwriting experience. In 2019, she switched from a principal investment to an advisory role at STREAM Capital Partners in New York City, where she completed nearly $1 billion in lease-sale transactions on behalf of mid-market companies, often in conjunction with mergers and acquisitions. A wise thinker with an all-possible mindset, Mandel has been successful at pioneering diverse creative structuring solutions for her clients. Notably, it has been innovative in bringing middle market sale leaseback opportunities to remote markets across Europe, has successfully structured the backlog of sale leaseback transactions for companies emerging from bankruptcy, and has developed unique structuring methods that have enabled its clients to fund 100% of their business acquisition from transaction proceeds. Re-lease sale.
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Mike James
