About

Danielle Ash is a partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Ground Lease Practice, as well as the Firm’s Impact Real Estate Practice.  She is also a member of various specialty practice groups, including Opportunity Zones, Fund Formations, Real Estate Finance, and The Bronx. As Co-Chair of the Ground Lease Practice Danielle specializes in complex sale-leasebacks and ground lease financing structures, often involving multi-stakeholder negotiations and phased development projects. As Co-Chair of the Impact Real Estate Practice, she works with a variety of stakeholders in affordable and workforce housing transactions and helps to source capital connections for emerging, diverse and mission-driven sponsors. She also has expertise in a wide array of other real estate matters, including joint ventures, construction and permanent financing, and complex fund formations, and regularly represents institutional landlords, tenants, borrowers, lenders, sponsors, institutional investors, and developers in New York City and throughout the country.

Some of Danielle’s notable Ground Lease transactions include:

  • Acting as lead transactional counsel to the Ground Lease REIT (“GLR”), which is managed by Montgomery Street Partners, as the purchaser and ground lessor, in millions of dollars of ground lease transactions, including in (i) a $550 million project where GLR acquired portions of a building comprising the iconic Hudson Hotel in New York City, (ii) several high-profile multifamily construction projects in New York City (including for the development of 240 Willoughby Avenue in Brooklyn and 138 Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx), and (iii) sale-leasebacks of several stabilized industrial, commercial and hotel properties throughout the top 50 MSAs in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest;
  • Representing a development client in connection with the creation of a ground lease concurrent leasehold and mezzanine financing in connection with an approximately $100M development of a mixed-use office and retail property located on the east coast; and
  • Representing Tribeca Investment Group in the US$300 million acquisition of a ground leasehold interest in 295 Fifth Avenue, a landmark building in New York's trendy garment district, which also involved the negotiation of two tiers of joint ventures, among Tribeca and affiliates of Meadow Partners and PGIM Real Estate. 

A selection of Danielle’s other notable real estate transactions include:

  • Representing various clients in obtaining construction financing for major complex urban developments, including, (i) a major US developer/sponsor in obtaining $116,000,000 of mortgage financing from a major institutional lender for a mixed-use historic structure in Philadelphia; (ii) a venture led by Halpern Real Estate Ventures in obtaining more than $500,000,000 in construction and EB-5 financing for development of a luxury residential condominium development in downtown Manhattan; (iii) 125 West 57th Street Property Owner, a venture between affiliates of Cain International and Alchemy-ABR Ventures, in connection with a $249 million construction loan to finance the development of an office and retail condominium project located on West 57th Street in Manhattan; and (iv) affiliates of Savanna Asset Management in obtaining approximately $264M in mortgage and mezzanine financing for the development of a mixed-use multifamily project located at 141 Willoughby Street in Brooklyn;
  • Representing various clients in their fund formation and/or joint venture transactions, including, (i) a real estate investment professional in the creation of a GP sponsor and management platform, with first-round investment from a large international equity company, targeting industrial assets in Florida, (ii) structuring a platform LP investment in a national blood plasma collection center operating business; and (iii) a co-GP investment in series of storage facilities and multifamily developments located throughout NYC;
  • Representing Halpern Real Estate Ventures in the creation of a unique and highly structured investment vehicle to provide sponsor capital for Opportunity Zone transactions, as well as a follow-on LP investment by affiliates of RXR Realty into a multifamily and office mixed-use project located in Denver, Colorado; and
  • The acquisition and capital restructuring of a downtown Manhattan property for a foreign philanthropic trust involving a complex subleasehold condominium structure, in connection with the recapitalization of an alternative non-profit school.

Danielle is also an officer of Women in Housing and Finance, a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and a member of the Board of Directors of WHEDCo., a South Bronx-based affordable housing developer and economic development non-profit. She was previously a member of the New York City Bar Committee on Housing and Urban Development and a guest lecturer for an introductory real estate development class at the NYU Schack Institute, and is on the Alumni Board of New York Law School, her alma mater.

She also serves as Chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, where she maintains the Firm’s pro bono relationships with Sanctuary for Families, Immigration Equality, Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS), and the Pro Bono Partnership. In partnership with these organizations, Danielle oversees attorneys’ assistance in helping immigration clients obtain U-Visa and asylum applications, providing commercial leasing and corporate services for small businesses, and end-of-life planning for low-income elder adults.

Danielle joined the firm in January 2015 from the Real Estate Department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrisson LLP and is a magna cum laude graduate of New York Law School, where she was a John Marshall Harlan Scholar affiliated with the Center for Real Estate Studies.  She received her B.A. in Urban Studies from Columbia University.  She is admitted to practice in New York.

Recognitions:

  • Listed, The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Real Estate (2024 & 2025 Editions) 

  • Listed, Super Lawyers: New York Metro Top Women - Rising Star 2024

  • Listed, Super Lawyers, New York Metro Rising Star, Real Estate (2018 - 2024)

  • Listed, Connect Media's Next Generation Awards 2021

  • Listed, Real Estate Weekly Leading Ladies in Real Estate 2019
     

Publications and Media:

Associations:

  • Women in Housing & Finance (NYC), Board Member 

  • WHEDco (Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation), Board Member

  • Women in Funds