About Samuels & Company
Samuels & Company, Inc., formed in 1997, is a full-service real estate advisory, development and brokerage company which offers integrated services for real estate developers, institutions, private investors, tenants and public agencies.
The firm’s areas of specialty include a broad range of advisory and transactional real estate services including property planning, development and redevelopment, brokerage and leasing, acquisitions and dispositions, portfolio and asset management and structuring public/private redevelopment projects. Samuels & Company, Inc.has extensive experience in most real estate sectors with an emphasis in retail, entertainment and mixed-use projects.
The principals of Samuels & Company, Inc. have more than 70 years of combined experience in all aspects of the real estate industry in various corporate and entrepreneurial positions. Samuels & Company, Inc. works closely with its clients to achieve their goals and to create the greatest value for their real estate assets. The principals of the Company can serve as a client’s “Corporate Real Estate Department,” act as an “Owner’s Representative,” serve as an "Exclusive Broker" or work in a complementary role to a client’s existing real estate staff.
Over 150 transactions completed for location-based entertainment retail clients, exceeding 2.5 million square feet nationwide within the last 25 years
Our Team
Howard J. Samuels, President
Howard J. Samuels, founder of Samuels & Company, Inc., has over 35 years of experience in all aspects of the real estate industry in various corporate and entrepreneurial positions with an emphasis in retail, entertainment, and mixed-use projects. Since 1998, the Company has been a full service provider of advisory, development and brokerage services. Samuels & Company, Inc., a Los Angeles based company, has provided these services to prominent clients nationwide and internationally. Currently, Samuels & Company, Inc. provides exclusive advisory and brokerage services as well as asset management services to Merlin Entertainments, the leading name in location based quality family entertainment in North America ; and to iFLY/SkyVenture a growing new entertainment concept of indoor skydiving. Additionally, Samuels was the exclusive Advisor/Broker to AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) for its $2.5 billion mixed-use project called L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. Samuels & Company, Inc. was the Developer Partner for the leasing and development of Canyon Springs Marketplace in Riverside, California for the Construction Laborers Pension Trust of Southern California, which involved an 185,000 square foot community/power center anchored by Marshalls, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Cost Plus and Old Navy.
In addition to his activities with Samuels & Company, Inc., Mr. Samuels served as Senior Vice President and National Director for Retail Development of LCOR Public/Private, Inc., an affiliate of Lehman Brothers. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Samuels was the Managing Director of the Southern California office, and oversaw all aspects of planning, design, entitlements, development and acquisition of projects throughout the southwestern region of the country.
Previously, from 1995 through 1998, Mr. Samuels was Senior Executive Vice President for The Mills Corporation which is a fully integrated publicly held real estate company that develops, leases and manages super-regional value oriented megamalls (known as Mills), as well as community shopping centers. Mr. Samuels directed anchor leasing and managed peripheral land sales at existing Mills, as well as at the new Mills developments in Ontario, CA; Dallas, TX; Phoenix, AZ; and Orange, CA.
From 1982 through 1995, Mr. Samuels was a senior executive with Kornwasser & Friedman (“K & F”) and its related entities, including The Price Company and the Price REIT. While at K & F, Mr. Samuels was in charge of the development of power/community shopping centers nationwide totaling approximately 4.5 million square feet in 16 projects. Mr. Samuels was specifically involved in land acquisition, master planning, obtaining governmental entitlements, developing infrastructure improvements and managing the design, development and construction for each project.
Mr. Samuels’ extensive private real estate development experience is coupled with his experience in the public sector. Prior to his experience at K & F, Mr. Samuels served as an Economist for Mayor Bradley, as well as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles City Commission to Vitalize Fairfax. Mr. Samuels was a Financial Analyst assisting in the management of the North American Investment Program for the Hong Kong Land Company.
Mr. Samuels has broad based community and civic affiliations in Los Angeles. He served as President and a member of the Board of Directors of Alternative Living for the Aging for 3 and 20 years, respectively, which included the development of over 100 units of senior multi-family housing. Mr. Samuels also served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Crippled Children’s Society as well as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Urban Planning Task Force to Rebuild LA.
Mr. Samuels has spoken on various panels including the Entertainment Evolution Experience Conference, ULI, ICSC, the National Council for Urban Economic Development, the Entertainment Real Estate Forum, and the Deloitte & Touche Annual Conference. He has also lectured at the Ziman Center for Real Estate (part of the UCLA Anderson school of Management), the MIT Center for Real Estate Development and at the University of Southern California.
Mr. Samuels earned his B.A., magna cum laude from University of California, Los Angeles and his M.A. in Public Administration with an emphasis in Public Finance from the University of Southern California. Mr. Samuels also studied at University of Hong Kong in Urban Economics/International Finance and received a Rotary International Fellowship.
Rod Chisessi, Senior Advisor
Rod Chisessi has over 35 years of commercial real estate experience, including acquisition, development, redevelopment, entitlement, design, project management and leasing. Mr. Chisessi currently is a Senior Leasing Advisor with Samuels & Company, Inc. Prior to joining the firm in 1998, he was most recently a Vice President and Managing Director of Development for the Western States for Developers Diversified Realty (DDR), a publicly-traded REIT and fully integrated real estate company that develops, leases and manages the third largest nationwide portfolio of shopping centers and mixed-use properties.
Prior to joining DDR, Mr. Chisessi held senior management and director positions with prominent national and regional real estate development and investment companies including Westfield Corporation, Inc., the Mills Corporation and Hopkins Real Estate Group.
In addition to his corporate experience, Mr. Chisessi has also provided advisory and development and leasing services as a principal of his own consulting and brokerage firm, Rod Chisessi & Associates. He has extensive knowledge of retail tenant requirements having previously represented Mervyn’s Department Stores, the General Mills Specialty Retail Division and Thrifty-Payless (predecessor to Rite-Aid Drug Stores). He has also provided site location, acquisition, disposition and expansion planning services to a variety of other retail and restaurant clients as a consultant and broker.
In 1978, Mr. Chisessi earned his B.S. with honors in Business Administration/Real Estate from San Diego State University and is a licensed Real Estate Broker for the State of California. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives. He has been a featured speaker on various shopping center and community development industry panels.
David Johnson, Senior Advisor
Over the last 25 years, David has had substantial operations and financial management experience in the leisure and retail sectors of Location Based Entertainment. During this time he has worked extensively in global strategic market analysis, site search and transaction negotiation. David joined Merlin Entertainments Group in 2008 and served in several senior management roles both in England and the United States. Most recently, as the Director of Global New Business Development, David was responsible for supervising the national expansion activities of Merlin’s Midway Attractions including LEGOLAND Discovery Center, SEALIFE, Madame Tussauds and Peppa Pig World of Play. In this role, David opened 25 attractions in five years which currently generate over $200 million in revenues. Previously, David served as the CFO for LEGOLAND Florida from its inception in 2011 to 2014.
For the last four years, David has focused on his consultancy business specializing in brand representation, finance, real estate consultancy specific to the Entertainment Industry. In this capacity, David serves as a Senior Advisor to Samuels & Company, Inc. focusing largely on helping the Company’s clients with site selection and brand development.
Oliver Cully, Senior Advisor
Oliver is the Founder and Owner of Scallywag Entertainments Limited, a business he set up in early 2019 to support landlords, visitor attractions, leisure, tourism and outdoor adventure and education businesses with their national, regional and international expansion plans. Scallywag Entertainments represents a wide variety of companies across the World with projects active in Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom and Spain
Oliver is an experienced leader in the sector having led business development for one of the World’s biggest names in location-based entertainment and now working with numerous internationally recognized leisure and entertainment brands. He is passionate about working in the sector and sees significant growth opportunities.
Oliver has 20 years’ experience in the commercial real estate sector, including 17 years in the Asia Pacific region where he was based in Hong Kong. Whilst Scallywag Entertainments remains a Hong Kong company, Oliver now lives in the Cotswolds in the United Kingdom.
Janet M. Brown, Vice President
Janet Brown has over 15 years of investment banking experience including corporate finance, acquisitions, reorganizations and bankruptcies. Ms. Brown is currently a Vice President with Samuels & Company, Inc. responsible for Asset Management.
Prior to joining the firm, she was most recently a consultant to Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company and subsequently a Vice President with First Capital Life Insurance Company (acquired by Pacific Mutual), responsible for the management of bankruptcies and work out projects for the subordinated debt investment portfolio. Ms. Brown was previously a Vice President at Prudential Bache Investment Bank where she was involved in public and private, equity and debt financings for middle market corporations and acquisitions.
In 1979, Ms. Brown earned her B.A. degrees with honors in Business Economics and Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara. In 1984, she earned her MBA from the University of California Los Angeles.
Jack Samuels, Real Estate Associate
As a Real Estate Associate at Samuels & Company, Inc., Jack’s responsibilities include providing market, statistical and demographic research; preparing spreadsheets for tenant needs, new business development, and leasing requirements; attending meetings and conference calls to prepare summaries and follow-up procedures; assisting in the preparation of leasing flyers and presentation materials; creating charts, graphic and google map materials; maintaining social media accounts and client media files.
Prior to joining Samuels & Company, Jack worked in sales at Charter Communications, Inc. and The Sun Pro Companies.
Kelly Streeton, Marketing Associate
With more than 20 years of experience working in architecture, editing, graphic design, graphic installations, and archival organization and management, Ms. Streeton is instrumental in creating custom marketing materials for the clients of Samuels & Company.
Prior to her work with Samuels & Company, Ms. Streeton spent more than 10 years managing all pre-production, design, and print aspects of a multimillion-dollar annual R&D journal for the Department of Energy. Her work included publication design and layout, editing, press coordination, and project management. Prior to joining the DOE, Ms. Streeton worked with the award-winning architectural firms of Barton Myers Associates and Shubin+Donaldson, both based in Southern California. Her work included archives (film and digital), marketing, publication management, and project-pursuit preparations.
In 2001, Ms. Streeton graduated Magna Cum Laude with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Art & Architectural History and Italian Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Pie Ortigoza, Leasing Assistant
Pie is responsible for assisting in the Company's leasing, business development, site selection and asset management efforts. She provides office management, executive, administrative, technology and marketing support as well as prepares weekly deal flow/pipeline reports for the Company's clients.
Other than Samuels & Company, Pie has worked with REDFIN as an Associate Agent. Various roles at ING GROUP/ING DIRECT (now CAPITAL ONE 360) include Executive Assistant, Cost Center Manager/Budget Analyst, Marketing Project Manager for Greenfield/Startup operations and branding. Pie was the Executive Assistant to the CEO and Chief Admin Investor Coordinator at STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONS for high-net-worth investors, as well as, Listing Agent for STRATEGIC REALTY & helped leased properties acquired by BLACKSTONE’S INVITATION HOMES.
Pie has a BA in Economics & MBA from Ateneo de Manila University/Graduate School of Business. Pie took Real Estate/General Business Studies courses at UCLA/Extension and holds a California Real Estate Broker License.