Yisell Rodriguez

At Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Yisell Rodriguez oversees a team that offers legal services to the owners and developers of affordable housing nationwide. In a few short years, she was named Partner by focusing on both the legal and business aspects of her profession. As a result, clients believe Rodriguez provides value-add service, which has helped increase her practice substantially. 

Within her niche practice in affordable housing, Rodriguez learned the ins and outs of predeveloping, sourcing, closing on construction loans, building, acquiring permanent financing, operating and disposing asset disposition. She has also worked on all aspects of the real estate transaction life cycle, rather than focusing on a single point.

During her career, she focused on leading the acquisition of Starwood Capital Partners’ affordable housing portfolio. Under her legal guidance in affordable housing, a large institutional client has increased their portfolio from 16,000 units to more than 50,000 units, resulting in millions of dollars’ worth of transactions and making this large institutional client a top-three affordable housing owner in the nation.

Rodriguez performs pro bono work for charities through Nelson Mullins; these include Habitat for Humanity and Wills for Heroes. She also participated in a Guardian Advocacy Pro Bono Project. While the last few years have been challenging in many respects, Rodriguez has helped her clients and communities thrive by helping them move through difficult legal environments and through pro bono work.

These are just a few reasons we chose Yisell Rodriguez as one of Connect CRE Florida & Gulf Coast’s 2023 Next Generation Award winners. Connect Media’s seventh annual Next Generation Awards recognize young leaders who will have a strong influence on the commercial real estate industry.