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By JOHN BRINSLEY

Staff Reporter

Although it might not look like it, Robert Schacht is struggling through a personal conflict.

The 29-year-old real estate developer admits to being a seven-figure millionaire whose personal net worth has increased by $750,000 a year for the past three years. He drives a Mercedes to work, is thinking of getting his own boat, and recently bought a custom-built, 5,000-square-foot home in the San Fernando Valley for his wife and two children.

But money has not necessarily brought peace of mind.

Schacht, born to a Jewish family in Beverly Hills, has joined the Orthodox branch of the faith. Today he sounds conflicted between his drive to be materially successful and a dedication to his faith, whose precepts dictate that the material world can often detract from spiritual fulfillment.

“When you are religious and you have a job like mine, you have to be careful of conspicuous consumption,” he said. “It’s extremely important to maintain humility, and that’s difficult when your business is flying.”

Flying it is. Schacht is president of Keller Equities, a real estate development firm in Beverly Hills that builds multifamily housing in high-end markets in California, Nevada and Texas.

When he came on in early 1997, Schacht put down $25,000 for a quarter of the business. Today, he has a 40 percent interest in a company that now has assets of $180 million.

Keller Equities recently finished its biggest project to date, a 248-unit apartment complex in San Antonio that is 94 percent occupied, which the company expects to sell for around $18 million. In October, Keller will break ground on a 208-unit complex, also in San Antonio, in partnership with SunAmerica Inc. Also being developed is a mixed-use retail and residential project on 100 acres in Sacramento.

Real estate wasn’t what Schacht had in mind when he grew up. The grandson of actor Ross Martin, who played Artemus Gordon in the 1960s television show “The Wild, Wild West,” he attended Beverly Hills High School before going to New York University to study film.

While in school he worked for Rosenbloom Entertainment, which produced one of Brad Pitt’s first features, “Across the Tracks.” He was an associate producer for the film, overseeing logistical details for cast and crew.

“I was probably the only one in my class (at NYU) that wanted to be a producer instead of a director or writer,” he said.

The product of a Reformed Jewish upbringing, Schacht found himself exploring his religious roots, observing rituals such as keeping kosher to see the extent to which it would change his outlook. Orthodox Jews live a more proscribed life than their Reformed counterparts, and the more involved he became with Judaism, the less enamored he was of Hollywood.

“The movie business is not one where it is very easy to incorporate value within your work,” he said.

Around this time, he met the woman who would become his wife, Joni Hofstadter. Her father Eugene was a semi-retired property developer who asked Schacht if he would be interested in helping manage some of his holdings. Instead, Schacht asked his father-in-law to teach him about the development business.

The two formed Courtland Development in 1993, and began developing custom homes in Beverly Hills, Rancho Mirage and the San Fernando Valley. Schacht found the work more satisfying than producing movies.

“To come to a place where nothing exists and have your product result in a place where people will live in is a very fulfilling thing to do,” he said.

The more successful he became, the more interested he was in taking on complex deals to do “large projects that would require backing with greater assets and institutional acceptance,” he said.

A business associate, Uri Gati, put him in contact with El Monte-based Keller Construction Co., which had set up Keller Equities in early 1997. Schacht became head of the company, and he and Gati eventually bought Keller Construction out. Courtland is now largely dormant.

Schacht is driven by the details of financing of putting a deal together and negotiating the most favorable conditions. He works long hours, coming to work before 8 a.m. and often staying past 9 p.m. frequently putting in time on Sundays.

He also enjoys the contacts that being in the real estate world bring him, noting that business and politics are often intertwined with big deals.

For all that, conflicts remain.

“Being a rich businessman is not what you are supposed to strive for,” he said. “It is a constant struggle. On the one hand you want to be comfortable and experience the best that life has to offer. At the same time, life should be a struggle, and when you achieve success when you’re very young it is hard to realize that.”

Observing Jewish law helps keep his perspective. On Fridays he goes home before sundown when the Sabbath begins, and attends synagogue with his family. Saturdays are spent at home, and work is not allowed to intrude until sundown.

“The beauty of keeping Sabbath is that for 25 hours a week, there are no phones,” he said. “When you run your own business, your troubles don’t end at 5 o’clock. Sabbath gives me the opportunity to shut down.”

He is active in his synagogue and took over as the contractor during its rebuilding. He and his wife are involved in various causes, mostly with what he terms the “educationally and physically disadvantaged,” and he donates 10 percent of his income to such programs and other charities.

Being successful and his own boss also means he can go on vacation when he feels like it and when his work schedule allows. He takes long weekends several times a year, as well as two weeks off, often traveling to the Arizona desert or going skiing in Utah. He has taken up fencing as a hobby, and trains once a week with a private teacher.

What he continues to hope for is a sense of equanimity between the material world and the religious one, a way to do business that is both profitable and honorable, although he recognizes the inherent difficulty of that goal.

“I want my children to know that it is possible to be successful in business and an honorable person as well,” he said.