Real estate developer driven - SUCCESS STORY
Michael Pollack stood before his third-grade class
in San Jose, California and gave a report about how
to read construction blueprints.
Four years later, Pollack spent his weekends working
as a construction laborer with carpenters, electricians
and landscapers.
At 15, he opened his own painting company, hired
10 teenagers and made profits painting commercial
structures.
At 18, Pollack graduated from Lincoln High School
in San Jose and -- an hour after receiving his diploma
-- he started building his first house after borrowing
$5,000 from friends to buy a lot and another $40,000
for materials and other expenses.
Pollack continued building homes and live-in structures,
including condos, until 1985 in California -- then
moved to Texas, where his profits began to soar.
At 21, he retired -- for one day -- after having
constructed 10,000 residential units.
He found a new direction in life and decided to stop
building homes and focus, instead, on revitalizing
declining shopping centers and commercial structures.
That was more than 30 years ago.
''I always knew I was going to be in real estate,''
Pollack said. ''Lots of kids dream about what they
want to be when they grow up, but that was never an
option for me. I always knew I was going to build
things.''
In 1991, he moved to the East Valley and continued
looking for shopping centers that needed improvements.
Today, at 51, Pollack is among the most wealthy real
estate entrepreneurs in the Valley and, he readily
admits, among the most colorful.
He never attended college, but he is proud of his
achievements.
''I went to the most expensive school in the world,''
said Pollack. ''The School of Hard Knocks.''
Pollack is founder and president of the Michael A.
(Alan) Pollack Real Estate Investments, Inc., a Mesa-based
company with more than 20 employees that is directly
and indirectly involved in more than $1 billion worth
of mostly commercial properties in Arizona, California
and Nevada.
Pollack, the father of three, including Daniel Pollack,
26, a vice-president in the family firm, said he learned
his determination, working skills and business ethics
from his father, Robert Pollack and grandfather, Sidney
Gambord.
Robert Pollack developed industrial and multi-family
residential projects. In 1964, Michael's father and
grandfather merged and formed Pollack and Gambord
Development, which for the next several decades grew
to become one of the major development firms in the
San Francisco Bay area.
''From my dad, I learned to be conservative,'' said
Pollack. ''not to get over-leveraged.''
His grandfather moved to Arizona and lived across
the street from his grandson for several years until
his death at 94. He regularly visited the Mesa office,
Pollack said.
Pollack, known as the ''Plastic Surgeon of Real Estate,''
through the years has purchased dilapidated shopping
centers and renovated them, including his current
headquarters which formerly was a declining former
Reliable Furniture store and today is a plush office
as well as a 6,000-square foot museum.
Pollock has collected more than 8,000 three-dimensional
advertising items, including the original Chesterfield
Cigarette Lady, Elvis Presley and Bob's Big Boy.
He regularly conducts tours of his museum for students
and seniors.
And when he's not making profits on real estate sales
or collecting valuable museum pieces, he plays drums
for a band that performs for fundraising charitable
events, including many agencies he supports such as
the Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley, Junior
Achievement of Arizona, Special Olympics Association,
Phoenix Rescue Mission, March of Dimes, American Cancer
Society and Chandler Education Foundation.
He also openly supports local and national political
leaders. President Bush is shaking Pollack's hand
in a large picture that hangs in Pollock's office
and the lobby of his movie theater at Elliot and McClintock
roads. The theater also contains a photo of Vice President
Dick Cheney with Pollack.
''I consider it a honor to meet with a sitting president,''
Pollack said.
''I support politicians who are the most qualified.
Their political affiliation or party doesn't matter.
I'm interested in how a person is doing their job.''
When asked about the sudden resignation of Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the election, Pollack
replied that there are ''some things'' in this country
that have to be mended because ''they're broken.''
Meanwhile, he said he will continue to invest in
the real estate market, mostly in Arizona and Nevada
because he sees a market trend that in the past has
helped him make money when he purchased properties
at reduced prices, renovated them and later sold and
leased the space at a high profit.
''The market is in for a correction. I don't see
doom-andgloom, but I do see a change,'' Pollack said,
referring to the decline in property prices combined
with rising interest rates.
He also sees a move toward more high-rise residential
areas in ''Live Work'' districts that contain retail
shops and condos atop the shops.
''I can't see myself retiring,'' Pollack said. ''I
enjoy the business. I love to create. And I don't
have to answer to anybody because our company owns
all or part of everything we do.''
