Developer, philanthropist Harry Hoffman passes

Harry Hoffman, a Holocaust survivor who became a major Western Australian real estate developer, has passed away at the age of 92.

Mr Hoffman is associated with some of the state's key land developments through his Ardross Group and he became a generous philanthropist as his successes mounted.

Born in 1929 in what was Czechoslovakia, Mr Hoffman survived World War II after being taken to Auchwitz in 1944 and working as a teenage slave labourer in a German munitions factory. He was rescued, along with his father, by Allied forces while being transported to Dachau concentration camp. The rest of his family perished.

Mr Hoffman came to Australia as a government-sponsored migrant in 1949 and became a lumberjack in Manjimup and was even a union organiser before going into real estate. In 1957 he and his wife Sylvia co-founded Ardross Real Estate which evolved into property development in the early 1960s.

What is now called Ardross Group has played a role in numerous WA developments, including Burrendah Estate, now part of Willetton, which famously had the spaceship-looking Futuro House design for its sales office.

Other major land developments in which Ardross played a key part were Secret Harbour and Golden Bay in Perth’s southern reaches and Millbridge near Bunbury.

As it evolved, Ardross became regionally focused with various developments in Manjimup and Albany as well as, notably, a 10,000-lot residential master planned community in Jurien Bay.

The group also built the Phoenix Shopping Centre in Spearwood which Mr Hoffman sold in stages to fellow WA entrepreneur, the late Stan Perron, who became his great friend.

Key Perron executive Ian Armstrong, who later ran the Perron Group, was managing the shopping centre and left Ardross as part of the deal.

Mr Hoffman became increasingly philanthropic as his career matured, funding Jewish institutions such as Carmel School in Dianella and the Hebrew University in Israel, as well as local causes such as Leadership WA and the WA Symphony Orchestra.

He was awarded an OAM in 2000 for his philanthropy to community groups and educational institutions, and a Centenary Medal in 2003. In 2019, Mr Hoffman was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community through charitable organisations

Business partner and Ardross chief executive David Lantzke said Mr Hoffman was a sales professional who was a true entrepreneur, oozing confidence even when times were challenging in the ups and downs of real estate.

“He always talked things up,” Mr Lantzke said.

“He established a track record and he didn’t have many failures.

“He ran close to the wind, like they all (entrepreneurs) do.”

Mr Lantzke said that it was not only during his youth where his instincts kept him alive, with a business version emerging as his career progressed.

“He had survivor skills,” Mr Lantzke said.

“He survived ups and downs in the market.

“He would sell things if he ran short of finance.”

Mr Lantzke said that Mr Hoffman maintained close relationships with financiers, including high net worth individuals that funded many of his projects.

However, in its earlier days Ardross often had to step out of developments in the commercialisation phase because it did not have the financial muscle to compete with bigger players.

Mr Lantzke, who joined Ardross in 1989 and reorganised the group’s finances, said the group evolved into developer that could carry projects to fruition, especially in the regions.

He also said that Ardross’s approach helped with regional developments which were lower margin and required more patience, which meant there was less competition.

He said the business Mr Hoffman built remains very lean, with only six employees.

“Harry was not necessarily strategic, it was opportunistic,” Mr Lantzke said.

“He bought parcels that came up.

“We could not play with the big boys, you had to pick your locations.”

In more recent years, key decisions at Ardross were taken by an independent board that Mr Hoffman had established, although he kept involved with the business and lunched with the board last week, the day before he was admitted to hospital.

The business is majority owned by a trust established by Mr Hoffman to carry on with the business in his wake. The rest of the equity, about 25 per cent, is owned directly by the Hoffman family.

Mr Hoffman passed away peacefully at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Monday night after a short illness. Survived by his wife Sylvia and daughter Susan, a memorial service will be held in the third week of January.