Meet Marc Pollock of Westside Retail

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Pollock.

Marc, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was working my way through college for an employer that was an active commercial real estate investor, took an interest in me, and believed I had the drive and initiative to succeed as a commercial real estate broker. One day, he called me into his office, told me that he had just sold a commercial property and paid the broker a six figure commission for about 30 days of effort, and convinced me that I needed to make that my future. My mother had recently listened to some cassette tapes and received her real estate license to become a residential broker. I borrowed her tapes, took the exam and received my license in 1984.

I began my career at Fred Sands Realtors in their commercial leasing division. I was assigned to a senior salesman for a 6 month internship. After completing that internship, working 6 more months, and becoming Rookie of the Year, I was hired by Grubb & Ellis where I spent 15 years specializing in leasing and selling retail properties, and subsequently 6 more years at CBRE continuing my efforts.

In 2006, I decided to change my pace, be more selective of who and what I represented, and open my own boutique brokerage. I founded Westside Retail with the visions to keep it small, keep it respectable, and focus only on representing property owners to position their properties to attract national, regional and local chain retailers. For my entire career, I have strived to stay focused on my specialty, and work with clients that know and appreciate the value of a specialist.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As in all areas of investment, there are cycles, and one needs to understand and adapt to survive ups and downs in income. There cycles appear every decade or so, and it takes experiencing a couple of cycles before one understands their impact, and learn to adjust, so the education process is lengthy. The fact that I have always focused my efforts on Westside property has given me some level of insulation to the cycles, as foreign money has always been attracted to the cache of the Westside, which has lessened the downturns a bit.

Please tell us about Westside Retail.
I have always kept my company to 3 or 4 total people, so that I don’t spend my days managing people, and I can keep the quality at the highest levels. Our specialty is leasing retail properties on the Westside and Valley, and as well as assisting buyers to purchase single-tenant retail properties nationwide. We are known for our ability to lease to name brand retailers, and to help our clients make the changes to their properties that are necessary to attract these highly sought-after tenants.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Spending summers on a farm owned by relatives. My first introduction to various motorized vehicles, and the beginning of my love of motorcycles. I was born to drive, and enjoy driving anything on wheels.

Contact Info:

• Address: 11847 Gorham Avenue,
  Suite 120
  Los Angeles, CA 90049
• Website: www.WestsideRetail.com
• Phone: 310-826-8000
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/WestsideRetail/
• Twitter: @WestsideRetail

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