Billionaire Lang Walker dead at 78
Lang Walker had a half century-long career developing an Australian property empire and was the founder of Walker Corporation.
Billionaire property tycoon Lang Walker, who passed away peacefully on Saturday at his Sydney home with his family by his side, was one of the foundational figures of Australia’s development industry at a time when an enterprising spirit prevailed.
He died at the age of 78 after a half century-long career developing an Australian and international property empire, with a legacy of building some of the country’s large towers and estates.
The one-time earthmoving equipment salesman started what would become one of Australia’s greatest developers with his father in the early 1960s.
The company became the Walker Corporation and expanded its operations throughout the 1970s, riding the tide of the country’s growth, with the entrepreneur’s drive for perfection making it a leader in fields ranging from quarrying, civil engineering, building and development.
The breadth of activities was not attempted by rivals and the company was marked out by the founder’s drive and vision for large projects.
Mr Walker is survived by wife Sue, children Blake, Chad, Georgia and their spouses, and his 10 grandchildren, and they plan to continue the famed business.
“Lang loved creating incredible places where people can live and work, but he loved his family more than anything else in the world and his generosity and affection had no boundaries,” the family said in a statement.
“Our hearts are broken by the loss of a great man who changed the lives of so many people through his visionary projects and philanthropy,“ the statement said. “His zest for life and his relentless pursuit of perfection lives on within everyone in the Walker family.”
Business success propelled Mr Walker to billionaire status but he was also known as a superyacht owner and avid racer, in philanthropy, and, more recently, as the developer of the Kokomo Private Island in Fiji.
Walker Corporation grew to some 500 staff around the world, including 80 in Malaysia and Singapore, making his business a rare property success both at home and in offshore markets.
The magnate was last estimated in this masthead’s Richest 250 to be worth $6bn, making him the 15th richest Australian. Few property companies have the range of projects and assets, and sheer size of a development pipeline that Walker’s eponymous group sports, and the company flagged plans to grow its portfolio to $20bn by completing projects the tycoon had begun.
The Walker empire takes in shopping centres and office tower projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and includes more than 10,000 apartment and 30,000 residential housing lots around the country, many centring in western Sydney, and another 45,000 lots across three housing estates in Malaysia.
At one stage Mr Walker was also keen on developing an island in the heart of Paris on the river Seine and he completed the $100m island resort in Fiji, which he described as the hardest project he had ever undertaken.
In more than half a century, Walker Corp has completed more than 1200 projects and has a $35bn pipeline of developments slated over the next 20 years including a $2.5bn investment in the new Maroochydore City Centre on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Other notable projects include the Rhodes Waterside precinct in Sydney, the Western Sydney University City Campus and Festival Tower in Adelaide.
In a 2021 profile he offered some simple advice for people in his line of business.
“Never give up; be patient and have a long-term view,” he said. “You can’t just go in there and think you are going to make money on day one. These things take years and years to mature. You need to add value to what you do and do everything properly.”
Mr Walker started out in the mid-sixties in his father’s business in earthmoving and excavation. But Mr Walker was much more adventurous than his father, wanting to move into property development.
“He wanted to retire and was always worried when I wanted to expand,” he said.
Mr Walker found himself having to play down many of his business deals as his father was always concerned about getting into debt. Eventually Mr Walker senior, who lived to the age of 102, retired from the business while his son went on from project to project.
On Saturday, Mr Walker’s vast 37.5 metre superyacht Kokomo II lay idle at the very end of Sydney’s Finger Wharf shuttered down. Its owner had the vision to develop the popular residential, restaurant and hotel precinct, drawing celebrity owners including Russell Crowe and John Laws, some 30 years ago.
Walker Group directors paid tribute to the company founder and chairman after a five decade stint that stamped his name across city skylines and homes across the country.
The businessman, known for his impeccable timing, listed the Walker Corporation on the Australian Stock Exchange in the mid-1990s, before selling up. He then turned his private operation, which regained the famous name, back into one of the country’s top developers in commercial and residential property, over the last twenty years.
The ever-prepared tycoon came through numerous storms including the global financial crisis and coronavirus pandemic stronger than most and in his last major decision decided to hold on to a prime portfolio spanning more than $9bn worth of towers across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide for the long term.
Walker Corporation managing director David Gallant said the company founder was regarded as a great visionary, an inspirational leader, and the first to creatively tackle the challenge of urban transformation.
It was unique in developing multiple large-scale precincts outside of traditional central business districts, with the tycoon realising that people would live and work in suburban high-rise towers, as well as housing estates. Big office projects include Parramatta Square and Melbourne’s Collins Square.
The tycoon handed over to his executive team last year putting the company’s $36bn project pipeline in their hands. “Lang’s vision will remain an enduring force through the Walker DNA and the Walker Way which he actively passed on – it is embedded in our culture and our modus operandi,” Mr Gallant said.
Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said Mr Walker’s contribution to the sector and Australian life was immense. “Lang lived and breathed property for more than five decades. During that time he housed and employed tens of thousands of Australians while investing in and shaping our cities for the better.”
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