Terry Snow
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1943
Terry Snow | |
|---|---|
 Snow in 2011 | |
| Born | Terrence Mark Snow 1943 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| Died | (aged 80) |
| Education | Canberra Grammar School |
| Occupations | Businessman; entrepreneur; philanthropist |
| Known for | Redevelopment of Canberra International Airport and associated business parks |
| Spouse | Ginette Snow |
| Children | 4 |
Terrence Mark Snow AM (1943 – 3 August 2024) was an Australian businessman, accountant, entrepreneur, and philanthropist based in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.
Terry Snow was the grandson of Canberra's first general store owner.[1] His parents owned a hotel in Queanbeyan and the young Snow attended Canberra Grammar School, initially as a boarder. He subsequently supported the school through a number of significant philanthropic gifts.[1][2][3] Snow died on 3 August 2024, at the age of 80.[4]
Career
Commercial development
Snow was Executive Chairman of the Capital Airport Group,[5] the company which owns the lease for the land which contains Canberra Airport and Brindabella Business Park.[6] Snow's Capital Airport Group acquired the 99-year lease from the Australian Government in 1998 for $65 million.[7] The site includes Fairbairn Business Park, formerly a Royal Australian Air Force base, as well as the Majura Business Park and Majura Park Shopping Centre. Snow was responsible for a $250 million development of a new terminal for Canberra Airport including an “extravagant” international interior design-winning terminal.[8][9] Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways were the first two international air carriers to Canberra; that arrived at Canberra international Airport in 2017 and 2018 respectively.[10]
Snow developed Brindabella Business Park. One of these landmark buildings is 8 Brindabella Circuit, which was awarded five stars under the Green Star rating system of the Green Building Council of Australia – the first and highest rating awarded in Australia at the time.[11] Snow's attempt to develop land around the Canberra Airport was described by Patrick Troy as controversial. Specific criticisms include that it removes jobs from Civic, diminishes Canberra's town centre, and causes unnecessary congestion on roads originally designed exclusively for airport traffic.[6] The development of Brindabella Business Park attracted international corporates including KPMG, Deloitte and Raytheon[12] as well as the Department of Home Affairs and has been recognised as an emerging aerotropolis[13] that has helped to grow the Canberra workforce.
Snow’s nearby Majura Park Shopping Centre attracted international retailers Costco, Aldi[14] and Ikea,[15] with nationwide retailers Bunnings, Woolworths and Dan Murphy's.[16]
Capital Property Group also developed Constitution Place,[17] a commercial and hospitality complex adjacent to the Canberra Theatre and the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in Canberra's central business district, which houses a five-storey government office building and a 12-level commercial building that is Canberra’s first WELL-rated building with a hotel and dining spaces.[citation needed]
In 2017, Snow opened Willinga Park,[18] an award-winning, 810-hectare (2,000-acre), equine facility in Bawley Point. Willinga Park was developed to include an equestrian centre with three Olympic-sized dressage arenas, showjumping fields and a campdrafting arena.[19] In 2018, Snow sponsored the largest campdrafting purse in Australian history at the World Championship Gold Buckle Campdraft centre. Pete Comiskey, a Queensland campdrafting rider, won the $100,000 purse after only four rounds lasting four minutes.[19] Willinga Park also includes native gardens and a sculpture walk. It has been referred to as “Jurassic Park with horses.”[20] In June 2018, it was announced that Sculpture on the Clyde, an outdoor art exhibition usually held on the Clyde River in Batemans Bay would be moved to Willinga Park to avoid being cancelled after the Eurobodalla Shire Council and event organisers were unable to come to an agreement on event logistics, insurance and security.[21] During the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, Willinga Park and its well constructed and defended fire breaks were credited as providing a much-needed fire break that saved Bawley Point from destructive fires.[22]
Residential development
Snow was also the owner of Capital Property Group and Capital Estate Developments which is responsible for the development of Denman Prospect,[23] a master-planned community in the Molonglo Valley and the first Australian suburb to have a minimum requirement for solar power generation on every home.[24] It is also the first suburb in Australia to commit to the Homes for Homes initiative which donates 0.1 per cent of the sale price of all properties to projects that address the shortage of social and affordable housing in the ACT.[25]
