Jean Nassif’s rapid rise from migrant to multi-millionaire property developer

Arriving in Australia aged 21 from war-torn Lebanon, Jean Nassif wasted no time in making a name for himself as he morphed into a multi-millionaire property developer. This is his story.

Multi-millionaire property developer Jean Nassif has rarely been out of the headlines with his rags to riches lifestyle since he hit Sydney’s property market with his company Toplace in 1992.

Dubbed King of the Hills for the thousands of apartments he has made a fortune from in Sydney’s Hills district, Nassif, 54, has been living the Australian dream in a waterfront mansion with its own wharf and speedboat.

Not shy of spruiking his wealth and talents, his company Toplace’s Facebook page describes him as “The most famous property developer Sydney 2022”, while he has been loyal to the high roller rooms at The Star casino for years splashing out $75,000 on his 50th birthday party at The Star’s trendy nightclub Marquee.

In 2019 he shot into the limelight for buying his glamorous wife Nisserine “Nissy” Nassif a $480,000 yellow Lamborghini and trumpeting it on social media.

Then late last year his crown slipped as his property empire began to implode.

Jean Nassif has had an incredible rise. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

Toplace was stripped of its building licence by the Commissioner for Fair Trading who alleges Toplace was guilty of improper conduct. Toplace has won a stay of the cancellation to complete the current five-tower Skyview complex and Box Hill project as well as rectification work being undertaken on around 5171 units. Toplace cannot begin any new projects.

With the jobs of employees and contractors on the line, the commissioner’s move has opened a can of worms with financiers Westpac and investment form PAG becoming jittery and blocking further drawdowns of funding,

Nassif is also embroiled in a NSW Parliamentary inquiry which has been looking into alleged links between Nassif, Toplace, Hills Shire councillors, Liberal powerbroker Christian Ellis and other senior party figures after allegations were raised by Castle Hill MP Ray Williams in a speech in parliament.

Jean Nassif with his wife Nissy.

Jean and Nissy Nassif.

Nassif has declined to appear before the parliamentary inquiry’s hearings in February, denying paying anyone for favourable treatment. He wrote to the committee that he was recuperating from a medical procedure back in rural Lebanon where he said, tongue in cheek, daily essentials are delivered by a mule.

Nassif arrived in Australia aged 21 from war-torn Lebanon. Records show he was born in 1968 in the village of Harf Arde - population 673 at last official count. The Nassifs are one of the best known families in the close knit community in Lebanon’s north where the Maronite Christian religion is very strong.

Hailed as a migrant success story, father-of-three Nassif has previously been reported as worth well over $100 million, controls over 50 companies, has bought and sold over 30 properties in his own name - never mind those bought by his companies – as he enjoyed a meteoric rise in the building industry.

Nassif has said that he dreamed as a child of becoming a property developer. His company website states that he undertook a civil engineering degree in Beirut before the war drove him out to Sydney. He started a concreting company in Sydney before getting a builders licence in 1992, according to his company’s Facebook page.

Nissywas given a bright yellow lamborghini for her birthday.

Toplace property developer Jean Nassif has been a force in property development.

He remains at the helm of his Concord-based Toplace Group, set up in 1992, which boasts it is one of the country’s largest privately-owned building and property-development companies which has “delivered approximately 30,000 residential homes, shopping centres and commercial suites all located in Sydney”.

He migrated to Australia about the same time as his older brother Sarkis Nassif, 57, and they partnered on a number of developments together with relatives Bakhos Nassif, 57, and Joseph Nassif, also 57. They included a prime site in New South Head Road, Edgecliff.

Ashlyn Nassif, 27, leaves Surry Hills Police on bail with her lawyer. Picture: David Swift

Fellow construction mogul Sarkis Nassif then went on to form his own Holdmark Property Group. Sarkis Nassif has made his own mark, being named the 2017 Urban Taskforce Property Person of the Year and donating $10 million to the Parramatta Powerhouse project.

There is no suggestion any members of Jean Nassif’s family have done anything illegal.

In a business where millions can be made overnight, in 2021 Jean Nassif pocketed a cool $75 million profit on a Western Sydney industrial site he had owned for just six years, selling 15-19 Berry Street Clyde to Goodman Group for $140 million.

Nassif told the parliamentary inquiry he intended to return to Sydney in March but events have superseded him with his property lawyer daughter Ashlyn Nassif, 27, arrested and charged with allegedly lodging fraudulent documents with Westpac to meet conditions of the loan for the Skyview complex.

Police have alleged that legally intercepted phone conversations between Jean Nassif and his daughter and between Jean Nassif and a former lawyer show that he was part of the alleged fraud.

Court documents allege he told the lawyer that he knew the contracts were “fake” and were “never going to be completed anyway” and the deposits were his money.

Jean Nassif had not been charged with any criminal offence.