Founder & Managing Director

Chelsea Mandel

Founder and Managing Director of Ascension, Chelsea oversees all sale leaseback transactions and corporate real estate advisory assignments, partnering with business owners, private equity firms, and other financial sponsors in structuring innovative solutions for their corporate real estate, globally.

In less than a decade, Chelsea has established herself as a pioneering force in corporate real estate finance due to a relentless work ethic and unparalleled transaction volume across real estate asset classes and global markets. Upon graduating magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in Economics, Chelsea joined the acquisitions team at Starwood Capital Group. She quickly thrived as the sole woman in her acquisitions team of 52 investment professionals, gaining expertise in underwriting and deal negotiations. Based on this success, Chelsea was recruited to join NYC-based New Mountain Capital to build out its sale leaseback platform – one of the first net lease funds of its kind among middle-market private equity firms. Chelsea was instrumental in this role, raising $533M of capital for the platform’s first fund, acquiring 5+ million square feet of industrial and office space, and closing $450M in transactions.

Through her experience at two premier investment firms, Chelsea developed a passion for working with business owners and financial sponsors, leading her to pivot to an advisory role at STREAM Capital Partners. Her principal investing background enabled her to think outside the box to meet the unique needs of both her clients and buyers in arranging corporate real estate transactions. Notably, she was an innovator in bringing middle-market sale leaseback opportunities to tertiary markets and across Europe and developed creative structuring methods that enabled her clients to fund 100% of their business acquisitions with proceeds from sale leaseback transactions. Within a year, Chelsea became STREAM’s top advisor, eventually closing a record $943M in deals across a variety of sectors and asset classes in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe.

Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a mission to establish the gold standard for corporate real estate advisory solutions, Chelsea launched Ascension Advisory. Chelsea is committed to continued investment in the platform, technology, and processes to arm her team with the most advanced systems and provide her clients with a level of sophistication and expertise that simply does not exist elsewhere in today’s market.

Favorite Quote: Jump and the net will appear.