LITTLE NATIONAL POST
“He has a great mind. And he knows people very well. He is also very honest. Very. When Jure gives you his word on something, you don’t need to write it down. He will honour it 100 per cent.”
ABOVE Dockside Kingston RIGHT Bridge Point, Kingston ACT OPPOSITE The Domazet family
Ivan says that in their lifetimes of working together, father and son have never shared a cross word. “Jure and me, we have never had a fight. Not a single disagreement. When he first started, he kept quiet and just took it all in.” Jure is grateful for a father who was “a great mentor and sounding board and I was privileged that he let go of the wheel very early in my involvement.” After seeing through some initial residential developments of varying sizes across the city, Jure’s first big deal arrived in 2002 when the company won a tender to redevelop the second stage of the Kingston Foreshore—one of Canberra’s newest and most cosmopolitan precincts. While Ivan was a little more formulaic in his design scope throughout his career, Jure has a more attuned sense of aesthetics. “I think it is fair to say Dad was always more concerned with getting it built. I wanted to get it built but to make it look beautiful at the same time.” The two also had slightly different spending priorities. “Dad would always try to save a dollar to make a dollar, whereas I was always happy to spend a dollar to make a dollar—and hopefully it would make me two.” That’s not to say that Jure does not admire his father’s financial tenacity—or work ethic. “Back then, what Dad was doing was rolling the dice with everything on the table. I don’t face that similar sort of risk. It would take quite a lot to go wrong for the business to suffer greatly, whereas back when Dad was growing it all, he put all his eggs in one basket and he had to back himself completely. That’s admirable.” During stage 2 of the Foreshore, Jure took the lead and consulted with Cox Architects at a time when residential developers and national architecture firms generally operated in two separate spheres. Today, DOMA is renowned for it's strong design credentials and close relationships with a stable of pre-eminent Australian architects keen to work on their increasingly prestigious commissions. By 2003, DOMA began the transformation of the Realm precinct in Barton—within Canberra’s blue-ribbon real estate belt of the Parliamentary Triangle. Expansion was further aided when the company established the Chase building company after poaching three ex-Bovis Lend Lease executives and its capacity was enhanced exponentially. “We were more confident doing office buildings and larger scale developments because that's what these guys were about, big scale jobs and big office buildings.”
THE WINTER ISSUE — 9
DOMA tentatively ventured outside the Canberra bubble— purchasing the Huskisson Pub in Jervis Bay and developing and building the Australian Taxation Office in Albury in a joint venture. In recent years, the company’s confidence, capacity and strong design and development credentials have seen it win some key property opportunities in Sydney, but perhaps more remarkably, invest huge sums and manpower in the transformation of Newcastle. DOMA is currently overseeing the development of four key pieces of inner-city and waterfront property in the surfing city—including Honeysuckle Drive’s Huntington and Lume apartments and commercial spaces, the redevelopment of historic site The Store, and the creation of a Little National Hotel (LNH). A ground-breaking and award-winning concept that grew out of Canberra, LNH is the brain child of Jure, who turned a spare space on top of a carpark into an award-winning boutique hotel opposite the company’s more conventional Realm Hotel in Barton. LNH offers a discerning traveller everything they need—namely enormous luxury beds, high-spec bathrooms, and artfully-designed common areas— and nothing they don’t. What they don’t need are large rooms or in-house food or beverage options—the theory being that the prime positions of these hotels will see most seeking to eat at the closest “it” restaurant and enjoy the offerings of the city they are visiting. LNH quickly took off in Canberra and with the purchase of a unique land parcel above Wynyard Station in Sydney, and in the heart of Newcastle’s CBD, two more will be rolled out next year. Of his many achievements, Jure is understandably proud of his deceptively simple idea. “I’m proud of a lot of things—of the company and its people and the passion with which we all work together and learn and reach for the next big thing. It really gives me enjoyment to see people who are either part of the organisation or under the umbrella grow—whether it’s an architect, or an engineer, or our hotel team. But in terms of legacy, bringing that kernel of an idea behind LNH to fruition, and seeing it going national has been really satisfying.” Still, Jure is young and energetic enough to understand that much more is yet to come. His children are still winding their way through school and university and Jure seems genuinely detached from any desire to pull them into the company fold. “If they want to work in the business, that’s fine, but they will need to prove themselves and whichever path they take, I want it to be their own.” For Ivan, the man who grew a business and property empire from saving and investing his 21 pound-aweek wage in those difficult early years, priorities have changed. His days are more likely revolve around a walk up a local mountain or a Pilates class than the negotiations around the newest parcel of land or tender for the next mega Government office block. “These days, my focus is on keeping fit and healthy,” he says. You’ll see his immaculately dressed figure catching up with friends over coffee in the French-style bistro Buvette, part of the Realm Hotel, or heading into DOMA’s world-class gym and day spa, Hale, for a treatment. But none of this seems particularly pertinent when you ask Ivan Domazet what his most important legacy is. He answers with a broad smile. “Well, I never dreamed of all of this,” he says with a sweep of his arm. “But for me, my family is my legacy. My eight grandkids. When I go away, one of the grandkids will always come pick me up at the airport. They are waiting to see me with a hug. It makes me feel so good. That is what I care about most.”