40 Under Forty

Ari Pollack has worked on projects that are adding jobs to the economy

By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader

Published Jan 30, 2012 at 3:00 am (Updated Jan 31, 2012)

Ari B. Pollack, 39

Home: Concord
Birthplace: Yonkers, N.Y.
Family: Spouse, Jessica; children, Andrew, 7, Emily, 5, and Ethan, 1
High school: Mahopac High School (1990), Mahopac, N.Y.
Degrees: B.A., Colgate University (1994); J.D., Boston University (1997)
Current job: Attorney, president and managing director of Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell, P.C.
Past positions: No other employment since law school.
Volunteer activities: Commissioner and chair, Concord Housing and Redevelopment; director, Concord 20/20; former director, Concord-Merrimack County SPCA
Most admired person: Tim Tebow
Professional challenge: Managing other professionals having more career/life experience.
Last major achievement: Work: Filing a legal brief at the United States Supreme Court. Personal: Finding fitness and losing weight, some of which stayed off.
Biggest problem facing New Hampshire: Lack of affordable and workforce housing. As the recession lingers, unemployment persists and wages hold stagnant, New Hampshire's working classes and young professionals can no longer afford to live where they work. Meanwhile, the cost of decent housing continues to increase.
Favorite place in New Hampshire: A. New Hampshire State House; B. On my back deck with my wife watching my kids play in the yard.
What books are you reading? “This Old House Magazine;” anything by Nelson DeMille.
How do you relax? Woodworking and furniture building. Anything involving classic muscle cars.
Websites you visit most often: espn.com; allfordmustangs.com
Favorite shows/music: “The Deadliest Catch,” “This Old House Hour;” XM 80s on 8, XM HairNation; Journey, Billy Joel, Motley Crue

Ari Pollack

Winning passage of construction projects that brought thousands of jobs to the state, fending off proposed regulations that would have driven up the cost of new construction and helping oversee an agency that provides affordable housing to hundreds of Concord residents are among Concord real estate attorney Ari B. Pollack's accomplishments.

“A lot of the projects I have worked on are adding jobs to the economy, and they are done in an environmentally-sensitive manner, so we are getting economic development without an unreasonable impact on natural resources,” said Pollack, 39, who is president and managing director of Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell law firm in Concord.

Pollack specializes in shoreland residential development and representing large commercial enterprises, including Market Basket supermarkets' recent efforts to locate new stores in Hooksett and Manchester and renovate one in Seebrook.

As legal counsel and a registered lobbyist for the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of New Hampshire, Pollack said he strives to keep the building trades economically viable in a recessionary economy.

“There are a lot of pieces of legislation that are adding costs to construction and to housing. Our efforts are helping in some ways to contain some of that,” he said. To that end, Pollack represented the Home Builders and Remodelers in helping pass two bills that would not require residential housing be equipped with fire sprinklers.

Pollack serves as commissioner and chair of the board of directors for the Concord Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which manage about 500 units of affordable and workforce housing and has a waiting list of more than 500 others.

“I have a real estate law skill set that is of use to the organization,” said Pollack, who sees the lack of affordable housing as one of the greatest challenges facing the state.

A self-described “do-it-yourselfer,” Pollack enjoys spending free time making furniture, woodworking and tinkering about his 1920s-era home. He is a big fan of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow “because he is a kind of gentle, pure fellow who a lot of people think doesn't have the skills to be playing in the NFL, but he keeps winning games ... He's magical.”