by Paulette
Bolyard
Michael Pollack
measures his success in square feet. “We have over three million square
feet of property we manage or own,” said Pollack, founder and president
of Michael A. Pollack Real Estate Investment, a company whose visibility
in East Valley neighborhoods seems to have become increasingly ubiquitous.
Pollack, 47,
was honored in March with a day of his own proclaimed by Chandler Mayor
Jay Tibshraeny.
March 22 was
named Michael Pollack Day in the city to spotlight the businessman’s
redevelopment of a dozen aging neighborhood shopping centers and for
providing funding for non-profit organizations.
“I am truly
honored. Every award is special. Every recognition is a thrill. It is an
honor to have the mayor of a city recognize what we do,” said Pollack,
whose office hallways are decorated with awards bestowed by congressmen,
governors and city officials.
Pollock founded
the firm 29 years ago. His properties and real estate investments cover
three states--Arizona, California and Nevada.
Since 1980, he
has been an advocate of redevelopment: turning urban blight into something
that appears new.
“The greatest
compliment I can receive is to have someone say ‘Why did you tear down
the building and put up a new one?’” said Pollack.
He said there
is a distinction between renovation and redevelopment.
“When I hear
renovation, I think a coat of paint and some flowers. Redevelopment is
actually coming in and repositioning the project. It’s like a plastic
surgeon. Taking something you can physically change and make it better,
more beautiful.”
An East Valley
resident himself, Pollack has put the touch of newness on more than
400,000 square feet of Chandler property alone.
His firm has
redeveloped the northwest corner of Dobson and Elliot roads; the Waterfall
Shopping Center on the northwest corner of Alma School Road and Galveston;
and the Garcia’s Center on Alma School near Warner Road.
“We bought
the one next to Garcia’s. And the one next to that. We ended up buying
all three blocks to redevelop there,” he said.
The company’s
most recent purchase and the one he calls the “oldest and ugliest” is
the center on the northwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Elliot Road.
Putting a new
face on a retail property magically does something for the surrounding
neighborhood, Pollack said.
“When we go
in and redevelop a prime corner, a busy corner, it’s amazing. We can see
the people in the surrounding neighborhoods begin to paint their houses,
clean up their property. Urban blight is like a disease. We have to be
careful not to let a few blocks turn into miles.”
Pollock laughs
at the suggestion he’s an overnight success.
“I don’t
think so. It was a lot of long hours of hard work, dedication and a lot of
perseverance when others said ‘Good luck! You must be insane, guy.’”
Pollock got his
start in the working world following his sophomore year in high school.
Born in San
Jose, Calif., he started with a painting company.
“I probably
had 15 kids working for me. We would paint after school and on the
weekends. I wasn’t even old enough to drive then,” he recalled.
Because he and
his crew could bid a job 50 to 60 percent lower, the local painting unions
“hated us,” Pollack said.