A multimillionaire who tragically lost his battle with cancer began saving money by selling lemonade and handing out newspapers long before building his property empire.
Jonathan Hallinan, 47, the founder and managing director of Melbourne-based construction group BPM Corp, died on Thursday after a two-year battle with cancer.
He received a bone marrow transplant in 2021, but it was not enough to save him.
Mr. Hallinan, who lived in Melbourne and had an estimated net worth of $735 million in 2021, always dreamed big, with BPM overseeing dozens of projects worth more than $1 billion.
As a child he set up his own lemonade stand and at the age of 10 he delivered the newspaper in his neighborhood.
During his teenage years, he completed carpentry training and bought his first house when he was only 19.
Jonathan Hallinan, 47, (pictured with wife Mikka), the founder and general manager of construction group BPM Corp, passed away Thursday after a two-year battle with cancer
“From the age of 12 I was saving for my first property, working on construction sites and selling newspapers,” he said in an interview with GK in 2015.
He then started flipping houses and was so determined to succeed that he missed things his peers dove into.
“Once we got to 18 to 20, my buddies couldn’t appreciate it and they didn’t respect it. So I think I lost that phase of my life – I didn’t go out to party, every dollar earned went to the business and property,” he said.
Mr. Hallinan launched BPM in 1995, with the company now owning more than 30 properties, including both commercial and residential properties.
His most famous work is Melbourne’s $300 million Shadow Play tower, where apartments sell for between $425,000 and $2,348,000, and what Mr Hallinan described as a dream come true.
“The captivating and majestic project, Shadow Play, sees the fulfillment of my biggest dream of impacting the Melbourne skyline,” he wrote on Instagram in 2016, along with a photo of the project.
BPM also owns the former Grandmaster Recorders studio, which has been transformed into a restaurant and bar in Los Angeles.
Some of the well-known names that have walked through the doors of the studio include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and Kanye West.
During Mr. Hallinan’s teenage years, he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and bought his first home when he was just 19.
His most famous work is the Shadow Play tower in Melbourne, where apartments are sold for between $425,000 and $2,348,000
A close friend of Mr Hallinan, Ashley Bramich, who worked in sales at BPM, said there was a side to the businessman the public didn’t see.
“Everyone saw the classy suits and the brash statements, but a lot of it was about promoting the company,” Mr Bramich told the newspaper. Australian financial statement.
“Whoever got to know him saw the soft side, the absolute gentleman who was actually quite shy.”
Mr Hallinan is survived by his wife Mikka Hallinan and their three children.
In a heartfelt post on Instagram following his death, Ms Hallinan said her husband had passed away peacefully at Royal Melbourne Hospital after saying “nice goodbyes” to his immediate family for two days.
“Jonnie died in the storm [Thursday] morning,” she wrote.
“In his own words, Jonnie said he was going home.”
Mikka Hallinan shared the touching last words her husband Jonathan spoke before he tragically lost his battle with cancer on Thursday
Ms Hallinan said her husband had found “deep comfort in faith” when he was ill in hospital.
“Now he’s at home in his ‘eternal bliss,’ as he called it,” she said.
Ms Hallinan said a doctor had broken the bad news to her husband last week that a drug trial he hoped to take part in would not be possible.
The doctor said his body was too busy fighting an infection and he was “generally unwell due to the level of his illness in his body.”
She said she and Mr. Hallinan’s family had been by his side during his last days, before he “left us to heaven, in true Jonnie style, arriving with a bang.”
“It was an absolute privilege to have been his wife and been able to love him and blend his family with mine,” she said.
Ms Hallinan admitted she was experiencing emotional pain but had found comfort in knowing she had helped her husband find “true freedom”.
Mr. Hallinan was the founder and general manager of the construction group BPM Corp, which owns Grandmaster Recorders
The couple moved away in November, with Ms Hallinan saying they wanted to spend “the last part of Jonnie’s recovery from cancer as husband and wife.”
They married just a day before he began his final cancer treatment, and celebrated in their South Yarra penthouse.
In his last Instagram post in December, Mr Hallinan shared that a setback in his health “absolutely took away all the strength I have left”.
“It is important to me to conserve any remaining energy for myself and my family,” he wrote.
“I appreciate your understanding if I haven’t called you back, don’t respond to your calls, or can’t see you. It’s not personal, I’m just at my limit’.