Property developer Kevin Seymour’s grandkids are put to the test with new project The Oxlade

Queensland richlister Kevin Seymour doesn’t want to die wondering how his legacy will end, so his grandkids are facing the most expensive ‘test’ anyone in their 20s could imagine.

Developer Kevin Seymour (centre) with grandsons Trent Seymour and Ben Seymour at the site of their new display suite for 'The Oxlade' on Oxlade Drive, New Farm. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Walker

Queensland richlister Kevin Seymour doesn’t want to die wondering how his legacy will end, so his grandchildren are facing the most expensive ‘test’ anyone in their 20s could possibly imagine.

Seymour has been shaping Brisbane’s skyline for more than five decades and is responsible for some of the city’s most iconic developments such as Queens Plaza and MacArthur Chambers.

Now the 78 year old has begun ticking off the boxes as he sets up his interests across what he calls “five components” - development, the share market, cash and reserves, mortgage lending and oil and gas. His view is very long term – the oil and gas exploration isn’t for this generation, he says, but the ones to come.

The Australian newspaper recently estimated Seymour and his family’s wealth at $874 million, making them among the richest people in the state.

“I am hoping that it will be the first generation makes it, the third generation just adds to the pot, and makes more,” Seymour says. “That’s one of the things that I’ve always said - I don’t want to die wondering whether I leave all the money to the kids and whether they’ll be able to do it. I want to see them perform now and see the results while I am still alive.”

Asked how big a mistake he would allow, Seymour says: “well if you take this first project it’s $100 million – there’s not a lot of kids in Australia who get the opportunity to do $100 million for their first project. It’s an apprenticeship.” Seymour has four grandchildren, with the eldest, Daniel Farquhar, already well entrenched in the Seymour Group for the past decade. It’s the other three that he’s putting to the test – Kate, Trent and Ben Seymour, all of whom are in their early to mid 20s – with off-the-plan sales of their first residential project, The Oxlade, at New Farm, kicking off June 1.

Developer Kevin Seymour (centre) with grandsons Trent Seymour (left) and Ben Seymour at the site of their new development 'The Oxlade' on Oxlade Drive, New Farm. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Walker

The man they affectionately call “Pop” is risking $100 million so that the trio can cut their teeth in the development world via their Queensland Prime Investment Trust’s interest in The Oxlade, a six-storey riverfront development. Construction of the 39 ultra luxury units will begin at the end of the year.

“I was always hoping that the grandkids would get involved,” Seymour says. “It’s good to see them now showing an interest in property development and taking a particular interest in this New Farm area where we have a number of riverfront properties which are ripe for development at the present time”.

It’s a far cry from when Seymour himself got started in property development on a $380,000 property in Victoria St, in Brisbane inner city suburb West End.

“It was a warehouse building and the tenant was the Christian Outreach Church and they were very good tenants that set us up on our path for real estate,” he says.

It is an even further cry from his very first taste of property in Nanango - when Seymour held down five different jobs “including being a taxi driver” – buying the burnt down shell of the Royal Hotel and selling the liquor licence for $400. He went on to build a Caltex Service Station on the site and a 10-unit motel called the Golden Dream.

The difference in scale is not lost on youngest grandson Ben, 23. “Just looking back at that, we’re just extremely fortunate to have Pop as a mentor and to have the benefit of his guidance,” he says.

It was Ben who was given the task of going to a weekend auction in April to secure another property in New Farm that the family wanted to land bank for future development. That he ended up breaking the Brisbane record for most expensive house sold under the hammer – paying $7.75 million for a prized piece of absolute riverfront in Griffith St – is spoken of matter-of-factly by his grandfather.

Artists impression of “The Oxlade’. Picture: Supplied

“What we try to do is give them as much experience as we can,” Seymour says. “We sent Ben down … on his own. We didn’t go along with him to try to make sure that he performed to his best ability.”

It was “nerve wracking”, says Ben. “We tried to keep it pretty quiet … (the auctioneer) was probably wondering who the young 23-year-old was bidding on this”.

He passed that “test”, with his grandfather getting a review of his “performance” afterwards.

“It was quite sensational really because he stood his ground on the pricing and he was in the cut and thrust of an auction which was pretty important,” Seymour says.

“The vendor said he kept his cool and he was very composed in the whole process and then it got knocked down to him at the finish, so that was the first auction that he’s attended for us. Good experience.”

Ben studied law and business at university, while his sister Kate has an undergraduate and masters degree in business. Trent did a commerce degree and currently works in merchant banking at Goldman Sachs in Sydney.

“He’s sort of doing things by remote control, but still taking a very keen interest in the project,” his grandfather says of Trent. “Kate’s involved in the design and the preparation of the development, getting it finished and all the interiors. So it’s a great learning curve for her at the same time. They’re looking at specialising at this stage in the residential component.”

Seymour admits that it is hard to let go of the reins.

“It’s very hard … when you are a private investor, like I have been for a very long period of time, it’s hard to let go because the cut and thrust of the business just gives you an adrenaline pump all the time.” He jokingly attributes his success to “luck, luck, luck”, but adds “they say the harder you work, the luckier you get”. He still works an eight hour day. “I come in from 6.45 in the morning ’til about 3pm and I spend that time in the business, helping with various things. That gives me an interest. Otherwise what would you do with your time? You couldn’t go and play golf all day. You couldn’t go and travel because we travelled a lot. So it’s important that I keep some sort of interest in the business.”

Asked how he coped with such long hours even now, he says “I go home in the afternoon and have a grandpa nap”.

Artists impression of “The Oxlade” in New Farm.

His grandchildren are impressed by his stamina: “That’s one thing a lot of people are surprised at,” says Ben. “He tried to wind back a few years ago and he just couldn’t.”

As he gears up to hand over more of the daily responsibility of running his diverse empire to his grandkids – with the help of trusted managers like Belinda Amble who’s been with the group for about 25 years - Seymour clearly believes his legacy is in good hands.

“It’s wonderful to have grandkids who are ready and willing to take over once you’re fully retired and get involved in this early stage of doing their own projects. I just don’t think that you could give kids a better opportunity,” Seymour says.