Veteran Sydney speculator Ian Hayson leaves innovative property lineage

Veteran Sydney speculator Ian Hayson leaves innovative property lineage
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The effervescent Sydney property developer Ian Hayson died suddenly at the age of 69 last Monday of a heart attack.

He leaves an impressive property lineage back to the 1960s.

In the early 1970s, he and his father, Tom undertook Australia's first highrise serviced apartment complex, the 33-storey Golden Gate development on Queensland's Gold Coast, far exceeding the then highest 12 storeys.

Again with his father, Tom, he was responsible for developing the $2 billion Harbourside Shopping Centre at Darling Habour, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1988 having cost $110 million to build on what was then no man's land, old wool stores bought from John Elliott's Elders IXL, saving Pyrmont Bridge along the way.

Title Tattle recalls first coming across Ian Hayson in late 1986 wearing his 'Good On Ya Darling' Harbour tee-shirt with pride - worn as a reaction to the then prevailing carping towards the pioneering project.

There was later the $300 million Skygarden retail and office project on the Pitt Street Mall that topped off the late 1980s heyday.

The father and son team even sought out international prospects via Merlin International Properties Ltd, listed on the London Stock Exchange. Brighton Pier's restoration was one on the agenda though the early 1990s recession stopped that initiative.

In the end Ian Hayson had returned to where he started - buying up buildings to strata them into apartments or retail space. 

Hayson, who like his father changed his surname from Jacobs, began his career as a door-to-door salesman then onto marketing strata conversion apartments from the late 1960s.

The office was at 523 Military Road, Mosman, but his erudite property speculative reputation grew especially around Sydney's lower north shore and Kings Cross.

The family quickly became the biggest developer of existing real estate renovating 2,000 plus apartments annually. Father Ross Jones told the funeral gathering that Ian had been responsible for some 16,000 abodes over the years.

At the Top of the Town, Darlinghurst, around 2000 he was in the syndicate that converted the former landmark 101-room hotel with developers Allen Linz and Robert Whyte. He sold off the apartments through Cramer agent Erle Cramer, with whom he stayed in near-daily contact over the next decade and more.

More recently Ian Hayson undertook The Crescent in Kings Cross and ERA in Potts Point.

Title Tattle last spotted him lunching with Robert Whyte in Potts Point only last month, not far from his headquarters, where perhaps they were discussing their most recent Chatswood venture.

In the very early 1980s, there was even the opportunity to step up buying the historic mansion Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay, together with a adjacent hectare of waterfront land, including Berthong and three blocks of flats, which he subdivided and then onsold the house for a then-record $1.05 million. 

Ian Hayson [left] with the Queen at the 
opening of Harbourside Darling Harbour

Ian Hayson [left] with his father Tom, and the Queen at the opening of Harbourside Darling Harbour. Photo: Dare To Dream by Kevin Perkins

Then said  to be worth $80 million, according to Business Review Weekly, he caused a stir in 1984 by marrying the so-called red bikini girl, Russian defector Lilliana Gasinskaya, who splashed into Sydney Harbour from a porthole of a Soviet liner in 1979 during the Cold War and went on to star in Penthouse magazine. The couple live in Cremorne, where Liliana was a familiar sight, driving a Mercedes with the numberplate, Omen. They split four years later.

The Riverview-educted Hayson leaves three children, Melissa, Justin and Ben, by his first marriage, and his third wife Natalie and their four children, Jack, Max, Ruby and Sam. Family and friends were invited to attend Ian's funeral service, Tuesday 25 November 2014 in the Dalton Memorial Chapel of St Ignatius College Riverview, Tambourine Bay Road Lane Cove.

He will be remembered always beaming, his welcoming smile creasing that well-worn, well known visage.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

Editor's Picks