There was never a dull moment with Martin Landau, the creator of Development Securities, who has died aged 87. Described by those who knew him as an “industry doyen”, “a titan”, “loud”, “a colossus” and “an inspiration”, Landau, with his characteristic shock of white hair, was still doing deals to the end.
With his son Mark, he had just secured planning permission for the redevelopment of a block in Chelsea to create 29 flats in a nine storey building. Several years in the making, they finally secured consent for the Squire & Partners scheme at Colebrook Court, Sloane Avenue, in July, shortly before Landau’s death on 28 August.
Two years earlier, he had advised the Fenwick family on the sale of the Fenwick Department Store site on New Bond Street to Lazari Investments for more than £400m.
“He was a property man, in the traditional sense of the word: driven, to the end, by deals, the market, and conscientious in maintaining his contacts with key people across the industry,” said Mike Hussey, chief executive of Almacantar, who was an agent at Knight Frank when he first worked with Landau.
“I was discussing a deal with him just a few weeks ago. He may have been part of the old guard but was as relevant in today’s market as he was in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Landau made his name in that era, as a contemporary of Sir Gerald Ronson, 85, Sir John Ritblat, 88, and the late Everard Goodman and Godfrey Bradman.
He was the son of Jewish refugees from Poland and Latvia, who met in London after escaping the growing threat of Nazi Germany. They settled in north London and Martin, who attended Mill Hill School, won a place at Cambridge University to read law. But he never took it up, having come under pressure to join the family accountancy firm instead.
He qualified as a chartered accountant and from there became a director of London merchant bank Guinness Mahon & Co in 1973, and then managing director of Guinness Peat Properties from 1980. In 1986 he engineered the management buyout of most of the property portfolio of Guinness to create City Merchant Developers, in which he was the major shareholder.
In 1988, City Merchant Developers merged with Imry to create Imry Merchant Developers with Landau as deputy chairman. It was during that time that the company developed Royal Mint Court in the City.
The sale of Imry to Marketchief for £314m in the booming property sector of 1989 illustrates his talent for astute timing: the company was bailed out by Barclays Bank in 1991, in the dark days of the recession. Landau had departed for Monte Carlo with his £10m payout, but was soon back to found listed developer Development Securities, the forerunner of U+I, in 1993.
The company’s initial £10.6m asset base increased eightfold within a year. Development Securities made its name with significant commercial developments including MI5’s former headquarters at One Curzon Street in Mayfair and Linklaters’ headquarters in the City of London. By the end of the decade, it had formed a strategic alliance with Dutch investment group MAB to carry out projects in Europe. Landau stayed with Development Securities until 2002, having failed to make the case for taking it private, and became chairman of MAB.
During the last two decades he was actively involved in development in the UK, several major cities in Europe and mainland China, and was also instrumental in delivering hotel projects in Morocco and Malaysia.
Former Imry chief executive Manish Chande, who is senior partner of Clearbell Capital, said: “He had a boundless energy to pursue the goals he set himself, but importantly in doing so, he brought his colleagues and team to join in his slipstream which created successful partnerships. He will be sadly missed not least for his leadership to make some of the most well-known real estate investments and transactions.”
“He treated life like a game,” said his son Mark, who added that, like a grand chess master, he “always had a plan for how to move the right pieces at the right time”.
He was also innately cautious, saying: “I have been fortunate in timing, but I have assiduously had regard to downside risk as opposed to upside potential.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he also had a reputation, particularly amongst advisors, for being ruthless. Rows and “blow ups” were par for the course, but he was also fiercely loyal to those who backed him.
“The simple truth is that he could not stand incompetence or laziness, but he admired talent and those prepared to go the extra mile. He surrounded himself with smart people,” said Hussey.
A philanthropist, Landau served as a trustee or director of several national cultural, arts, and educational bodies, in addition to Barts Charity.
With the late hotelier Sir Charles Forte he created the Landau Forte Charitable Trust in 1989, which today counts Sir Rocco Forte and Alex Polizzi as members. It runs six academy schools across the Midlands. Sarah Findlay-Cobb, chief executive of Landau Forte Charitable Trust, described Landau as a “white knight”.
“We have grown to become a vibrant family of schools, with over 4,000 children and young people,” said Findlay-Cobb. “Martin’s contribution has been immense, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for his vision and determination that every child in our care receive the very best education so that they can go on to lead successful and fulfilling lives. Martin will be hugely missed by all of us at the trust.”
Landau in some way made up for his missed chance at Cambridge by studying an advanced management course at Harvard when he was in his fifties. His son Mark described it as one of the highlights of his life.
Landau died on 28 August after a short but hard-fought battle against cancer. He leaves Liz, his wife of nearly 50 years, and children Mark, Guy and Katie, along with six grandchildren.
Send feedback to Julia Cahill
Follow EG
