JT Allen Real Estate has launched a historic commercial and residential site for sale on Bondi Road which has a heart-warming story of an up-and-coming real estate agent who launched his business in Bondi in 1969 and had a wealth of foresight to own his own office.
The 1,400sqm (approx.) site located at 222-234 Bondi Road & 1 Wellington Street, launched to the market on Thursday evening and will be sold via auction on Tuesday 15 March 2022.
The site belonged to the late Mr Robert Sirtes – a well-known and respected figure of Sydney’s real estate profession and the founder and owner of S.P Hilton Real Estate.
JT Allen Real Estate Director, Joshua Allen said, “Obviously launching any site of this calibre is a milestone, but it is very rare that we get to be immersed in a site with so much history, let alone tell a story like this. Mr Sirtes was a standing figure of the Eastern Suburbs property market, immensely successful and was very well known in the area.”
Mr Sirtes started S.P Hilton Real Estate with his wife Paula and with two small children, both worked hard to build a legacy for their family. Robert and Paula immigrated from Hungary and purchased a home on Balfour Road, Rose Bay – a stone’s throw to Bondi now but still a big investment in 1969 in a new country with a new business and with a very young family.”
“Mr Sirtes is an example of the people that have made our country – someone that was willing to have a go and put everything they had on the line – I respect that a lot, Josh said.”
In addition to investing in a home, Mr Sirtes had the foresight to buy the building where his office was located on Bondi Road and in time, he purchased the residential building immediately behind, at 1 Wellington Street.
“Mr Sirtes knew that he was establishing a significant investment for him and his family, but he likely had no idea that the site would reach the heights of the result that we are looking to achieve at auction,” continued Josh.
When asked what the relevance of the ‘Hilton’ component of Mr Sirtes’ business name, the Sirtes family noted that as an immigrant, he chose a name that he thought would be well received by the Australian market in 1969 – and that it was. Mr Sirtes had a profound and successful impact on the real estate market in Sydney’s east.
For the Sirtes family, making the decision to sell has been a difficult one and, one that has been almost 24 months in the making. Whilst they hope that the building will be retained by someone that wants to invest and give it a fresh lease of life, they also offer their blessing to a developer who wants to bring their own vision to the site – they have noted that they would love to see something like a boutique hotel.
“We have worked very closely with the Sirtes’ family to ensure that the property campaign is something that Robert would have been proud of.” concluded Josh Allen.
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