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Lawrence Leslie Wilson

LLW

Within every industry there is someone who turns everything on its head through innovation and insight, and, more often than not, emerges from a humble background.

For the Australian and South-East Asian parking market, it was the late Lawrence Leslie Wilson (LLW), founder of Wilson Parking in 1962, described in 1989 by the AFR as “the undisputed carpark king”.

He started his working life at the Postmaster General’s Telecommunications Department (now Telstra) at the age of 15, in their Murray Street, Perth offices.

His career path changed; however, when he saw an advertisement in the paper, left behind by a colleague in the lunchroom. It was open on the classified ads section, with the words “Car Park for Lease” – and that chance encounter started an amazing journey.

Knowing nothing about car parking, LLW went to the WA State Library and after a frustrating fourth day of research, the librarian guided him to a range of publications on population growth and motor vehicle registrations, which showed a 7.2% growth rate for population and vehicle ownership growing from 1.12 to 1.75 cars per family. It was his light bulb moment.

The rent for the open-air lot on Wellington Street (now the Four Points Sheraton) was 60 pounds per month, payable in advance – and LLW had to borrow it and provide his 1953 FJ Holden to guarantee a 90-pound overdraft account.

The plan was to keep working at PMG and have the carpark manned by a friend. This all came unstuck when the Police paid him a visit and advised the PMG forbade employees having secondary income. He had to quit (fortuitously), and spent all his time at the carpark.

This was when the innovation, through careful observation, commenced. Parking had always been an all-day (reserved) product.

But LLW worked out that revenues could be increased substantially by:

  • limiting reserved bays to 10% of the carpark,

  • introducing unreserved parking (with no guaranteed bays),

  • including cheaper hourly rates

  • introducing “earlybird” parking

  • closely monitoring occupancy levels and carpark yields

One of his golden rules was that an hourly parker would stay an average 2.5 hours, and the bay would turn over 2.5 times per weekday – so 6.25 paid hours for each casual bay. Each casual bay could then be used on weekends and nights, with cheap flat fees. None of this would have been possible with a carpark full of reserved bays.

Within three weeks, Wilson Parking had increased to four sites, and it was the start of a diverse and successful business.

One of the first investments made was to create a brand, including a comprehensive signage package. The timeless Wilson Logo, international ‘P’ and arrow that LLW created over 50 years ago remains an integral part of the current brand.

The business quickly grew throughout all the Australian states, then to New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa and the UK. LLW employed, mentored and trained a trio of very young executives (Gary Koch, Paul Simpson and Paul Cornish) to undertake the expansion through South East Asia. A fourth, Garth Matthews went on to create Secure Parking. 

The best lease he entered into was for the QVB development in Sydney. The building had been derelict and was bought by Ipoh Limited, who were to transform it into what we see today. A 720-bay carpark was to be built under York Street, with direct access to the centre.

LLW signed a 10-year lease with Ipoh before it was built (to commence on completion in 1986), at a starting rent of $3 million with escalations. It made a $1 million profit in the first year and this continued (even through the crash of 1990) until expiry. The deal was all done on the back of a sheet of paper.

However, the crowning glory was the purchase and amalgamation of a large block of land, which is now 1 Market Street, Sydney. He developed a 660-bay carpark and sold the land to Sally Aw (Tiger Balm Queen and Hong Kong businesswoman), who built the office tower that now stands there. He netted $15 million in 1987 plus a 50-year lease on the carpark, broken into 5-year options. To put this into context, the median house price in Sydney has increased by 746% to $1.65m over the same period.

LLW developed a comprehensive and detailed way of analysing each carpark and used that knowledge to maximise the revenue over the carpark’s life span. One of the many misconceptions about parking (which worked in his favour) is that it’s a simple business; set and forget.

Unfortunately, he used the parking business capital and profits to move into the world of venture capital, setting up Stinoc in West Perth, which attracted the 150% R&D tax deductions for start-up companies. He geared it up to invest in a range of activities including deer farms, stage lighting and underwater world(s), all of which unfortunately coincided with the recession “we had to have” in 1990 that saw interest rates move up to 17% and continued for the better part of that decade. Ultimately, it resulted in the sale of Wilson Parking in 1991 to the current owner, Raymond Kwok from HK.

I was fortunate to have time with him in 1989, when he moved to Sydney. Lawrie had the unique ability to walk into a meeting, and within minutes have even the toughest real estate CEO completely engaged by his knowledge, enthusiasm and charisma. He encouraged me, and all executives to make decisions, monitor results and if the results did not quickly show in the statistics system or monthly P&L, then quickly reverse it, or make a further change. Parking is a dynamic business which requires a cycle of data analysis, physical observation and financial review.

In conjunction with Professor Ian Constable, LLW funded the establishment of the Australian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness, which ultimately became the Lions Eye Institute. He also made significant bequests towards Aboriginal art and emerging artists, and the Lawrence Wilson Gallery at the University of Western Australia, which opened in 1980.

With the recent sad passing of Lawrie, his name lives on at every one of the 2,000-plus carparks across Australasia and South-East Asia. And the Lawrieisms, such as ‘never raise prices on a Monday or Friday’ or ‘once someone has parked for three days or more they are in the habit’, remain as relevant now as they were in 1962.