Rasha Elganzouri Gad
Partner
Real Estate
Rasha Elganzouri Gad is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Group. She has significant experience handling a wide range of complex commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing, joint venture formation, construction, development, and leasing. Her commercial real estate experience includes office, retail, hotel, shopping center, health care, industrial, data centers, multifamily, and mixed-use projects across the country. Her clients include private REITS, pension fund advisors, private and institutional investors, and real estate developers and owners.
She has particular experience in hotel acquisition, development, and management, including cross-border commercial transactions. She speaks three languages, and her understanding of multicultural environments enables her to get deals done effectively. Among her cross-border transactions are: representing a hotel owner in Sharm Sheikh, Egypt in connection with the negotiation of a hotel purchase agreement and management agreement; negotiating a hotel management for a high-end resort in Great Exuma, Bahamas; and negotiating a purchase and sale agreement, hotel management and ancillary agreements on behalf of Qatar National Bank for Hard Rock Hotel in Doha, Qatar.
Rasha is a trusted adviser to her clients and prides herself on building strong client relationships. Her approach to understanding client needs is driven by a combination of legal and business education and experience, as she holds a joint JD/MBA and has worked as in-house counsel to a major property developer in Dubai, UAE. She is also the founder of the “Emerging Trends” Webinar Series, which is a webinar series on key trends that impact legal and industry professionals in real estate, finance, health services, and other emerging practice areas
Among some of her notable transactions, Rasha has handled the following:
- Sale of 11 property portfolio of independent and senior living facilities located in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC for over $630,000,000 on behalf of a joint venture between a major institutional investor and senior living operator.
- Acquisition, financing, and formation of joint venture for construction of two senior housing facilities located in South Florida on behalf of institutional investor and senior living operator. Total project budget in excess of 180,000,000.
- Acquisition and financing of Hotel 71 in Chicago, Illinois on behalf of a hotel owner/developer.
- $20,000,000 loan facility on behalf of BBCN Bank in connection with acquisition of 14 “Motel 6” properties across five states.
- Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure on behalf of Related Company for site located at 400 Lakeshore Drive, IL site (former “Spire” site) and subsequent financing with Starwood Property Mortgage
- Sale and financing of the Ambassador East Hotel, Chicago, Illinois on behalf of owner.
- Financing of hotel acquisitions on behalf of institutional lenders including negotiation of three party comfort letters for international brands such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Dream/Windham.
Rasha earned her J.D., with honors, from Chicago-Kent College of Law; her M.B.A, with honors, from Illinois Institute of Technology; and her B.A., magna cum laude, from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame. Over the course of her career, she has worked for top-tier international law firms based in the United States; Dubai, UAE; and Cairo, Egypt, including DLA Piper and most recently Quarles & Brady.
Additional Information
Education & Admissions
Education
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., with honors
- Illinois Institute of Technology, M.B.A., with honors
- St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, B.A., magna cum laude
Bar Admissions
- Illinois
Memberships
- Fellow, American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA)
- Chicago Mortgage Attorneys Association, Board Member
- American Chamber of Commerce Egypt
Q&A
If you weren’t an attorney, what would you be?
Motivational Speaker. My positive energy is contagious. I am also great with people and an excellent presenter.What’s your favorite quote?
Les Brown: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”What is one thing you learned during COVID/the past year?
There is no such thing as going back to “normal” There is a “new normal” and those that get it have made major lifestyle changes that will not allow them to go back to “normal”.What is a personal accomplishment you’d like to share from the past year?
I was accepted as Fellow to the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA), a national invitation-only organization formed to establish an integrated group of lawyers in each state who are highly skilled and experienced in real estate lending and related practices.
“As foreign direct investors, we were lucky to rely on Rasha to help us navigate through the legal aspects of the Egyptian real estate market. Rasha has been instrumental in validating our investment concept, which included her guidance on corporate structures to facilitate foreign direct investment. Her counsel proved valuable with untangling topics of particular importance in Egypt, such as minority ownership interests and inheritance issues. I recommend Rasha for her aility to research and succinctly opine on reasonably atypical real estate law topics.” —Marshall Stocker, Co-Director Emerging Markets at Eaton Vance
