Pioneers in real estate still living dream after 90 years
REAL estate group LJ Hooker has a history inextricably tied to the fortunes of the Gold Coast.
The company, which celebrates 90 years today, chose the Gold Coast for its first interstate expansion – opening a Palm Beach office.
In 1957 the company purchased a large acreage parcel for development at Palm Beach and offered “genuine” buyers a free return flight to the Coast to inspect the land.
L Janusz Hooker, the chairman of LJ Hooker and grandson of founder Sir Leslie Hooker, says it was a bold move. “That was a 500-lot development, which was pretty big at the time. It really opened up the investment from Sydney.
“LJ Hooker’s marketing strategy was pioneering.”
At the time the company was the largest residential developer in the country.
“It was all low deposits down, interest-free periods, and very creative marketing, to get people to buy into the amazing lifestyle on the Gold Coast. The strategy was not mainstream then at all.”
In 1968 LJ Hooker bought two dormant subdivisions, Paradise and Landmark islands, in what was believed to
be the biggest land deal at the time on the Gold Coast.
Two decades after the Palm Beach development, LJ Hooker’s shopping centre construction company, Hooker Retail Developments, opened Pacific Fair at Broadbeach Waters in 1977.
Highway 90, which ran alongside the mall, was renamed Hooker Boulevard.
“It (Pacific Fair) was a swamp, an unused piece of land. To convert that into the largest regional shopping centre in the country, and to hold that title for 30 years, is pretty extraordinary.”
He said the centre was innovative in the sense it was more a “destination” than a shopping mall.
“It was a place that a family could spend an afternoon.”
Today, LJ Hooker has 18 agencies on the Gold Coast plus two LJ Hooker Commercial agencies. Mr Hooker said the company has a “very strong brand positioning” and group of franchise owners on the Gold Coast.
“We are constantly looking to strengthen our business and grow our market share,” he said. “The key over the next decade is ..... continuing to supply consumers with digital tools and the service that they have been used to and will demand in the future.”