About

Mr. Latella entered real estate in 1975 in sales and residential appraising with Warren W. Orpen & Associates, a local real estate appraisal, brokerage and insurance firm. In 1977, he joined the New Jersey Division of Taxation as a Supervisor in the Local Property Tax and Public Utility Branch. While assisting and advising state taxpayers on a myriad of issues, he completed the necessary course work and required examination to become a Certified Tax Assessor in New Jersey. In 1980, he shifted to a career in commercial real estate valuation with Valuation Counselors Inc., a national multi-disciplined commercial and institutional valuation firm in their Princeton, New Jersey office. In1982, he was promoted to Senior Appraiser.

Mr. Latella joined Cushman & Wakefield’s then-national headquarters in Philadelphia in 1983 as a Senior Appraiser. By the mid-to-late 1980s he began to develop a core specialization in retail valuation, with an emphasis on regional/superregional malls and other complex retail asset types.  His relocation to Cushman & Wakefield’s World Headquarters in 1988 directly addressed a need to better serve global capital providers and institutional clients that lend on significant retail properties. Recognizing this need, Mr. Latella helped establish Cushman & Wakefield’s first specialty appraisal practice in 1990 devoted exclusively to the retail asset class. Over the ensuing years Cushman & Wakefield’s Valuation & Advisory group has built its business model around specialization and now has over 20 specialty practices across a myriad of industries and property classes.

Over his career, Mr. Latella’s appraisal and consulting assignments have been international in scope and have included a full array of property types, including commercial, industrial, multifamily residential, hotels and special-use properties such as hospitals and nursing homes. He is qualified as an expert witness in retail matters and testified in bankruptcy litigation cases and has been a guest speaker before numerous academic institutions and real estate and advisory organizations throughout the world.

He currently serves as Executive Managing Director, Retail Practice Group Lead for the Americas. This group is comprised of approximately nearly 110 senior-level appraisers specializing in regional malls, department stores, and other major retail property types in over 75 markets in the Americas. In 2021 the team completed appraisals on over 10,500 properties valued at $306 billion led by the domestic team which completed valuations on seven of the top ten  and 50 percent of the top 50 sales and financing transactions in the United States as tracked by Real Capital Analytics.

Awards & Recognition

• 2014 New York Area Top Valuation & Advisory Professional
• Recipient of the Leo L. Majzels award for overall professional excellence and quality of services by the Valuation Advisory Services Group of Cushman & Wakefield in 1997

Education

• Bachelor of Science, College of New Jersey

Areas of Specialization

• Valuation for Retail

Affiliations

• Designated Member, Appraisal Institute (MAI #8346). As of the current date, Richard Latella, MAI has completed the requirements of the continuing education program of the Appraisal Institute
• Certified General Real Estate Appraiser in the following states:
  - California – AG044466
  - Colorado – CG.200000528
  - Connecticut – RCG.0001312
  - Delaware – X1-0000694
  - Georgia – 213716
  - Illinois – 553.002304
  - Louisiana – G2925
  - Maryland – 11507
  - Michigan – 1201005216
  - Minnesota – 40184155
  - Missouri - 2016041705
  - Nevada – A.0205886-CG
  - New Jersey – 42RG00192700
  - New York – 46000003892
  - North Carolina – A7228
  - Ohio – 2002005378
  - Pennsylvania – GA-001053-R
  - Tennessee – CG 4481
  - Texas – 1380524-CG
  - Virginia – 4001015323
• Fellow, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS Designation #1256063)
• Affiliate Member, International Council of Shopping Centers, ICSC
• Council Member, Urban Land Institute, Membership #76883
• New Jersey Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, NS-130101-A
• Former Certified Tax Assessor, State of New Jersey