Michael J. Samuels
President
MAI, CRE, FRICS
Michael J. Samuels is a Principal in Clarion’s Philadelphia office. Mr. Samuels is a real estate consultant and appraiser with 35 years of related experience. He has worked on a diverse array of projects in her career including:
- Land valuation for residential and commercial development,
- Eminent domain/expert testimony
- Appraisal and consulting on conservation and preservation easements
- Land development, acquisition and disposition consulting and brokerage,
- Marina valuation
- Impact of downzoning on land value
- Impacts of externalities on commercial and residential property value,
- Conservation and preservation easement valuation, and
- Demographic/economic market analysis.
Sample Assignments include:
- Representation of property owners in the taking of their properties for the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Just compensation totaled over $100 million;
- Valuation of the Exton Square Mall, a 1.1 million square foot regional mall, for tax appeal purposes;
- Expert witness in the TOUSA fraudulent conveyance litigation. TOUSA (through its multiple subsidiaries) was the 13th largest homebuilder in the United States. Clarion appraised over 400 subdivisions with 27,000 building lots for inclusion in a July 2007 solvency opinion. Asset value was over $1.6 billion;
- Represented the City of Philadelphia measuring damages related to the imposition of a zoning overlay district on a proposed World Trade Center development along the City’s waterfront; and
- Preservation and Conservation Easement donation appraisals for a wide range of properties from Ardrossan, a former 1,000+ acre farm in the Philadelphia suburbs to the Eliot Noyes house in New Canaan, CT, and the Maison Blanche building in New Orleans, LA.
Mr. Samuels has spoken on topics including suburban sprawl, downzoning impacts, tax assessment appeal valuation, eminent domain, market analysis and marina valuation. Mr. Samuels has been an expert witness in eminent domain, land development and development disputes in court and before municipal boards. Prior to founding Clarion/Samuels Associates, Mr. Samuels was the director of operations for a Philadelphia suburban office of a national real estate development company and a senior officer of a life insurance company responsible for real estate equity investment and property syndication activities.
Memberships and Affiliations
- MAI, member of the Appraisal Institute
- CRE, Counselor of Real Estate
- FRICS, Fellow of the Royal Institute of Charter Surveyors
- Realtor, National Association of Realtors and Pennsylvania Association of Realtors
- Member, International Association of Assessing Officers
- Real Estate Broker, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware
- Have held temporary appraisal licenses in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Illinois.
Education
BS in Finance with areas of concentration in real estate and urban and regional planning from the University of Illinois, 1978
MS in Real Estate Appraisal and Investment Analysis from the University of Wisconsin, 1979
Outside the Firm
Mike is an avid cyclist and photographer, many times mixing the two at excessive speeds much to the chagrin of his riding buddies. Mike has ridden his bicycle across the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington and Missouri. Originally from Chicago, Mike is a huge fan of the Cubs, Bears, Black Hawks and Bulls. Go Cubs Go! Mike’s wife is a former CPA who found her passion as an elementary school librarian. His two daughters have found their passions in wardrobe for television and movies and as a medical doctor.
