Dedication - Community - Integrity

PHIL DAWIT.

Commercial Real Estate Professional

ABOUT

Career

Phil Dawit is a distinguished professional with a decade of real estate experience.

Dawit has proven himself to be a trusted partner to stakeholders. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in the acquisitions, leasing, management, financing, and dispositions of over $2B in commercial assets.

Dawit is the Managing Director of QUASAR – a global real estate investment firm founded by former JP Morgan Chase national top producer, Kenneth Brown. He leads the expansion of the company’s commercial real estate business pipeline, oversees the development and implementation of QUASAR’s global platform, and heads the management of the company’s operations.

Prior to QUASAR, Dawit served as a Senior, Asset Management on Freddie Mac’s multifamily team. He oversaw the development and implementation of the quality control procedures – in cooperation with guidelines set forth by the FHFA – over its multifamily loan portfolio consisting of 30,000 properties.

Prior to Freddie Mac, Dawit was involved in the entire lifecycle of LCOR’s new development portfolio. His responsibilities included performing market studies for acquisitions, creating unit/amenity pricing structures, and tracking competitors to decide daily pricing recommendations against current market conditions. He worked across the Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Metropolitan markets.

Additional past experiences include serving as a Marketing and Business Development Manager at Quasar Property Management and Real Estate Limited Liability Company, and as a Portfolio Research Associate II at the Costar Group, Inc.

Dawit is licensed to practice real estate In the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Community

Phil Dawit serves as a Co-Chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Pathways Scholarship Program and a Member of the Urban Land Institute’s Management Committee. He also serves as a Treasurer of the Sister Cities Committee for the City of Alexandria, VA. Dawit is – additionally – an Advisory Board Member of Lima, Peru-based BPS Global.

Phil Dawit is actively engaged with the Ethiopian diaspora community. Dawit has led initiatives to recover illicitly traded Ethiopian artifacts. Additionally, he has assisted community members with job placements, asylum, and advocacy.

HISTORY

Over 80 years of integrity in Washington. The First Family of Little Ethiopia.

Fitawrari Bezabeh Seyoum

Fitawrari (translated title “Baron”) Bezabeh Seyoum was an Ethiopian nobleman under the Royal House of Agame. He was one of the three children of Fitawrari Seyoum Werka and a direct decedent of Shum Agame (translated title “Governor of Agame”) Woldu Kumanit.

Fitawrari Bezabeh oversaw the political administration of the Southern Districts of Adwa. He inherited, acquired, and managed various assets within his home region of the former Tigray Province.

He worked to preserve the integrity of his region and faction within the Royal House.

Kassa Bezabeh

Kassa Bezabeh was the son of nobleman – Fitawrari (translated title “Baron”) Bezabeh Seyoum. He married the daughter of Ethiopian nobleman, Grazmatch (translated title “Commander of the Left Vanguard”) Assefa Gebreselassie of the Holy City of Axum. After a factional split within the Royal House of Agame, Kassa decided to go against the frays of Tigrayan noble tradition. Kassa moved to Addis Ababa to take advantage of the city’s industrial growth. Kassa’s professionalism, multilingual capabilities, and continental network caught the attention of the United States, who offered him a job within the United States Embassy. He was sent to Washington, D.C. in the 1940s to take coursework at The American University. It was there that he established his first footprint in Washington.

While working in Ethiopia, Kassa took his income and invested in real assets within the country. In 1974, the Ethiopian Monarchy was overthrown by a communist junta. The communist junta nationalized land and took all of Kassa’s assets. The communist junta then began to target the Ethiopian noble and educated class who were viewed as a threat to the communist cause. To protect their ally, the President Nixon and President Ford administrations relocated Kassa and his family permanently to Washington, D.C.

While in Washington, Kassa began investing in real assets and retail businesses. Because Kassa had an established life in Washington, a strong connection to the White House, and familial prestige, many Ethiopians began to reach out to him for assistance. He has aided numerous families in escaping communist Ethiopia and attaining refuge abroad.

After the fall of the Ethiopian communist government in 1991, the newly established Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia started to make changes to the nation’s political and economic structures. With political stability and an economic future promised by the new Government of Ethiopia, Kassa decided to liquidate his portfolio in the USA and fully invest in Ethiopia. The final liquidation of his portfolio concluded in 2005 with his most prized asset – 520 Florida Ave NW. The property was a multi-tenant retail center that served the Shaw and LeDroit Park neighborhoods. The asset was purchased by Howard University. Within Ethiopia, Kassa invested in various projects including: hotels, commercial floriculture and flour facilities, luxury homes, and condos. Due to the continued economic and political instability in Ethiopia, many of those investments perished or yielded subpar returns.

Dawit Kassa

Dawit Kassa is the son of nobleman, Kassa Bezabeh. He married the daughter of Ethiopian nobleman, Fitawrari (translated title “Baron”) Alemu Gizaw of the former Begemder Province. He was a member of the Imperial Equestrian Racing Club in Addis Ababa and competed internationally – representing the Ethiopian Empire. Growing up, he had a strong passion for music and entertainment. While in high school, many of Addis Ababa’s youth started to form their own funk bands. Dawit would help these bands in the organization and promotion of their music and events.

Dawit was accepted into North Carolina A&T’s science undergraduate program. He moved to Greensboro, North Carolina to complete his studies in the early 1970s. Once Dawit graduated, the Ethiopian Monarchy was overthrown and he was unable to return back home. He followed his family to set up a permanent residence in Washington, D.C.

As Washington’s Little Ethiopia began to grow in its infancy, Dawit decided to attempt to make a living doing what he loved most – music. He organized and hosted various social events throughout Washington that catered to the Ethiopian community. Dawit has rubbed shoulders and collaborated with many legendary music artists and figures from the Ethiopian “Golden” Jazz era. Despite the cultural contribution, Dawit was unfortunately unable to attain financial success. Due to lifestyle choices, Dawit endured financial hardships that prevented him from pursuing new ventures.

Phil Dawit

Phil Dawit is the eldest son of nobleman, Dawit Kassa. He was the first American born member of the family. Phil grew up along the Georgia Avenue corridor of the Glenmont-Wheaton neighborhood of Silver Spring. Due to the unavailability of his parents, he spent a great deal of time with family in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. and the Glenview neighborhood of Silver Spring.

After graduating from college, Phil pivoted his focus into the real estate industry. He got his start at the Costar Group, where he worked in the management and analysis of commercial real estate data. He then joined Quasar Property Management and Real Estate Limited Liability Company where he oversaw the company’s marketing and business development. Phil then went on to serve as a Market Analyst for LCOR, where he was involved in the lease-up of approximately $1B in assets. Once leaving LCOR, Phil joined Freddie Mac where he oversaw the development and implementation of the company’s quality control program for its 30,000-property loan portfolio. Currently, Phil is the Managing Director of QUASAR.

*Hereditary titles were abandoned after the fall of the Ethiopian Monarchy