Ian Armstrong rises from Phoenix Park to help Stan Perron build $6.5 billion charitable legacy

Ian Armstrong knew he was giving West Australians a glimpse of the future when he helped open the enclosed, air-conditioned Phoenix Park Shopping Centre. It was 1971. Garden City and Karrinyup were twinkles in developers’ eyes, and Perth’s then-bigger centres like Floreat Forum and Innaloo were open-air malls exposed to Perth’s diverse elements. What Mr Armstrong did not then know was that entrepreneurial Stan Perron had also noted the massive growth of air-conditioned shopping centres on business trips to America and envisioned enclosed malls as the future in Australia. Their worlds came together in 1973 when Mr Armstrong’s employer Harry Hoffman sold Phoenix Park to Mr Perron. Mr Hoffman insisted that Mr Armstrong, the 27-year-old centre manager, was part of the Spearwood shopping centre deal. “Harry’s big interest was land development . . . Stan was more of an investor,” Mr Armstrong recalls. “Harry said you’ll do a lot better with Stan.” Mr Hoffman was on the money. The Phoenix Park package deal launched a 51-year business relationship that saw Mr Armstrong help Mr Perron build one of WA’s great private business empires and charitable legacies. That business relationship continued through two attempts by Mr Armstrong at retirement, Mr Perron’s death in November 2018 aged 96, and almost six more years helping turn Perron Group into the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. Now, hopefully third time lucky, Mr Armstrong has retired. He stepped down from the Perron Group board on June 30, replaced by veteran superannuation industry and investment management adviser Ken Marshman. Perron Group chair Laurence Iffla described the appointment of Mr Marshman as a “significant step forward” for investment diversification. Mr Iffla said Mr Armstrong’s advice to the Perron’s family, former chief executive Ross Robertson and the chair was invaluable in assisting to fulfil Mr Perron’s vision of creating an endowment fund. Mr Armstrong said Mr Perron was an entrepreneur who seized opportunities and worked hard to make the most of them, whereas the Perron Group now had to be run as a more formal investment structure. “I had the great privilege of choosing my own exit — not many people get to do that,” he said. After doing well in earthmoving using converted US Army tanks in the 1950s, Mr Perron laid the foundations for success by becoming the WA distributor of Toyota cars and commercial vehicles in the early 1960s. Not only did the Toyota distribution operations in Kewdale continually need expansion and shopping centres require continual tweaks, Mr Perron was keen on developing industrial projects and investing in buildings across Australia. Mr Armstrong’s role grew with the land and buildings portfolio, overseeing the group’s property investment and development activities after stints running La Plaza in Bentley and Thornlie Square for Mr Perron. “I became Ian who ran the property stuff, not just Ian who ran Thornlie,” he said. They built a shopping centre from scratch in Geelong in the booming 1980s; acquired office buildings in Sydney and Melbourne; snapped up Mirrabooka Square and the two centres that are now Belmont Forum; and developed the Eastpoint Plaza, at the top of Adelaide Terrace. Despite having a diversified portfolio and solid cash flow, the office building crash of 1990 resulted in nervous bankers asking Perron Group lots of questions. It was then the team embarked on what Mr Armstrong now describes as a “masterstroke”. Mr Perron steadily moved his group’s industrial, retail and office assets into the equivalent of an internal fund. This allowed banks to lend into a pool of property where the financiers would have diverse security. “When the WA market goes down, we still have properties across Australia,” he said. “If the office building goes down, they are covered by shopping centres.” This restructure was completed by the time that Mr Armstrong became chief executive in 1995. He believes it put the group in a strong position to bid confidently and pay for the opportunities Mr Perron wanted to seize into the new century, including bigger shopping centres. The ready access for cash proved useful when the State-owned superannuation fund GESB put its Central Park office building up for sale in 2003 and Perron Group offered $150 million for a 50 per cent share. Mr Armstrong tells of how about nine disbelieving GESB representative dropped in to visit Mr Perron, Mr Armstrong and his then deputy chief Ross Robson. When someone asked how Perron Group was going to fund $150m for half of the giant Perth CBD building, Mr Perron said: “We will write you a cheque.” Mr Armstrong said having a big pool of cash meant the group did not have to put riders on its offers, such as the dreaded “subject to finance”. “If we had headroom in our finance, we could talk turkey,” he said. By the time Mr Perron died in 2018, Perron Group was one of the largest privately owned commercial property and shopping centre owners in Australia. It had 13 shopping centres covering all States, including partnerships with Westfield and Vicinity. Despite planning to retire after stepping down as chief executive in 2010, Mr Armstrong had stayed on as Perron Group’s executive director of property until his second planned retirement in 2021. He stayed around for another three years as a non-executive director. Now, he thinks this will be his last retirement — capping 35 years as a director of Perron companies and 51 years helping build a $6.5 billion group now ultimately owned by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. “The business I helped create was that of an entrepreneur interested in growth,” he said. “Growth is no longer the driving light. “Providing income for the charitable foundation in perpetuity is the objective.”