User:WhisperToMe/Michael Pollack

Michael A. Pollack is a real estate developer, businessperson, and philanthropist. He the founder and CEO of Pollack Real Estate Investments, a company based in Mesa, Arizona which owns dozens of strip malls in the Phoenix metropolitan area (or the "Valley" region). As of 2011 the company manages over 12000000 sqft of commercial space in Arizona and California. Pollack is also the owner of the Pollack Tempe Cinemas movie theater chain.

As of 2008 Pollack owns over 100 projects, with most of them being shopping centers. In 2014 Eric Mungenast of the East Valley Tribune wrote that the name "Pollack" has "prevalence" in Greater Phoenix because he owns so many real estate projects there. In 2010 Jan Buchholz of the Phoenix Business Journal said that Pollack is "known for his full head of hair, flashy cars and eccentric collection of advertising memorabilia". In the 1980s Pollack became a local celebrity in Greater Houston due to the promotion of the Colonial House Apartments (now called Lantern Village) in the Gulfton community.

Early life and early career in California
Pollack's father and grandfather, Robert Pollack and Sidney Gambord, were real estate developers in California. Michael Pollack attended Lincoln High School in San Jose, California. A 2006 article by East Valley Tribune stated that Pollack never attended a higher education institution. A 2014 profile in AZRE Magazine listed San Jose State University as an alma mater. In California Pollack had developed several retail developments and apartment complexes.

Career in Houston
In 1980 Pollack traveled to Houston. Pollack said he went to Houston because it was the "land of opportunity." Pollack's first project was redeveloping the Orchard Apartments; Pollack said that prior to the redevelopment, the complex had resembled "a war zone."

Landmark Mortgage Co., the company owning the Colonial House apartments (now known as Lantern Village) in Gulfton, hired him to be a consultant and spokesperson for the complex. David Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle said that the conventional wisdom of the time stated that he was the owner of the complex, when this was not the case. Landmark had remodeled all of the units in a short period of time, and after the remodeling was complete, Landmark asked Pollack to go on a media campaign to convince people to rent units at the apartment complex.

Most of the complex's units were one bedroom units, so Pollack believed that the complex should be marketed to singles. Pollack appeared in several television advertisements promoting the complex. In those advertisements Pollack offered potential tenants free furniture, personal computers, color televisions, and other amenities. Prospective tenants were allowed to choose between the furniture, the computer, or the televisions, and the company continued the offer until 1985, when the company decided that once inventory ran out, it would offer no more extra amenities. One of the advertisements portrays a woman, dressed in a bikini, emerging from a swimming pool while holding a videocassette recorder. In a 1984 profile in the Houston Post Pollack said that the advertisements were designed to evoke a "happening type of feeling." Pollack had recorded a commercial jingle for the advertisements, and as part of the jingle he played the drums and sang the lyrics.

Pollack became a local celebrity in Greater Houston due to his placement on large billboards and due to frequent airing of television advertisements with Pollack. Pollack appeared at various Houston nightclubs, emceed beauty pageants, and hosted a local talk show. David Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle said "Pollack mania grew out of" the television advertisements. A Houston Post article in 1984 referred to Pollack as a "modern folk hero in Houston." At the time Pollack had the image of being a highly glamorous stud. In 2008 Pollack said that the image was an act he put on so he could promote the apartment complex. Pollack said "I was promoting day and night. To me, it was a job." Media reports at that time stated that Pollack lived at Colonial House in the "Dream Suite," a very upscale apartment unit. In 2008 Pollack said that he never lived in the "Dream Suite," which did exist, but instead initially in the Four Leaf Towers and later at The Houstonian Hotel. When the Farah Fawcett-Ryan O'Neal entourage visited Houston in 1985, Pollack loaned his automobile to them.

Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle said "The project's marketing budget, rumored to be $500,000 [about $ in today's money] per month, transformed Pollack into a local celebrity, but it did little to produce the high occupancy the project needed to survive." In July 1985 Pollack's contract with Landmark ended. In 1986 Pollack left the Houston market. Pollack said that he did so because the economy and the apartment markets in Houston had increasingly poor prospects. Patrick O'Connor, the owner of the real estate brokerage company O'Connor and Associates, said that the marketing campaign for Colonial House "was like trying to sell a stripped down Chevy at Cadillac prices. I think the project became a laughingstock because of Michael Pollack and his ravings." In 1989 Jim Barlow of the Houston Chronicle ranked Pollack as the "Worst Houston Apartment Operator."

Later career in California
After leaving Houston, Pollack worked in California for several years. In 1986 he opened a jewelry store, Contemporary Jewelry Center, in San Jose, California, and he announced plans to open more outlets in other parts of the United States, including Texas. As of February 1987 he spent 20% of his time designing jewelry for celebrities, including Tanya Tucker, and overseeing the operations of the San Jose Contemporary Jewelry Center.

Career in Arizona and western states
In 1991, Pollack moved to Mesa, Arizona. He became an active businessperson in the East Valley region. In Greater Phoenix he became known for purchasing and remodeling inexpensive, poorly maintained, declining retail strip centers and remodeled them so they appeared to be new. This gave him the nickname "Plastic Surgeon of Real Estate."

By 2001 he had become one of the largest independent owners and operators of shopping centers in the State of Arizona. In 2001 Pollack's company owned or controlled owned or controlled over 3000000 sqft of retail space in Arizona, California, and Nevada; this included over 50 shopping centers in Greater Phoenix. In 2002 the number of shopping centers in the Valley area had increased to 60 and his company controlled 25 or more shopping centers in California and Nevada. From his arrival in Arizona to 2004 Pollack had been involved in the redevelopment of over 9000000 sqft of commercial building space.

In 2006 Luci Scott of The Arizona Republic said that Chandler's building projects "dominate[d]" the city of Chandler, Arizona. Pollack had entered the investment market, and left the market during the increase in real estate prices from 2005 to early 2008. In 2008 Pollack's real estate portfolio was worth over $300 million ($ in today's money). In 2010 Pollack announced that he was re-entering the investment market. In 2011 the company owned 39 shopping centers, with 15 of them being in Chandler. In 2012 the Phoenix Business Journal ranked Pollack as one of its "Most Admired CEOs." That year Matthew Casey of The Arizona Republic said that Pollack's name "is emblazoned on trailers at worksites across the region".

Michael Pollack campaigns against copper theft in the State of Arizona. Pollack and police in the Glendale, Arizona area advocated for the establishment of state rules and restrictions regarding scrap metal transactions and copper recycling, which would prohibit entities other than businesses bonded and registered with the state and contractors, from submitting scrap metal and copper to scrap metal dealers and recyclers.

Pollack is also the CEO of the Pollack Tempe Cinemas movie theater chain in Greater Phoenix. The Phoenix New Times ranked the chain the "Best Budget Movie Theater" for the year 2012.

Personal life
Michael Pollack has a wife, Cheryl, had a son, Daniel Pollack, and has two younger children. Pollack also has a distant cousin, Kevin Pollak [sic], who is a comedian. For an eleven year period, Daniel assisted his father's business, working for Michael Pollack International Management Inc. as a vice president and a designated broker. Daniel Pollack died after he was struck in a hit and run accident in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 11, 2011. As of 2013 Michael Pollack lives in Chandler, Arizona.

Michael Pollack is a drummer in "A Corporate Affair," a twelve piece R&B/rock/soul band. In addition Pollack collects Frank Polk slot machines and three dimensional artwork. In one strip center, which he had acquired around 1999, Pollack had established what Randy Cordova of The Arizona Republic referred to as "a museum of sorts throughout the multiplex" dedicated to advertising memorabilia at the southeast corner of Elliot Road and McClintock Drive. Pollack wrote "Mom and Pop Saloons: Distillery and Breweriana Displays," a 320-page collector's price guide published in 2001. His museum collections are discussed in an episode of A&E Barry'd Treasures, April 2014.

Luci Scott of The Arizona Republic said "Michael Pollack is known for philanthropic contributions to the community." His band often plays in charity events that support many agencies that Pollack supports.

Publications

 * Pollack, Michael A. "Breathe life into ailing centers." Shopping Center World. Penton Business Media, Inc. and Penton Media Inc., May 1, 2002. Volume 31, Issue 5. p. 170, 2 pages. Available on EBSCOHost and ProQuest. ISSN 00490393. Accession Number 6740730.
 * Pollack, Michael A. "Say 'Hola' to Hispanic Customers." Retail Traffic. Penton Business Media, Inc. and Penton Media Inc., May 2004. Volume 33, Issue 5. p. 210, two pages. Available on ProQuest. ISSN 15444236.