PHOTO: 63 Fitzwilliam St, Vaucluse, has a $13m price guide ahead of a May 5 auction.
It’s hard to miss this ruined old shop when you drive by because it looks so run down, but it hides the equivalent of a modern day goldmine out the back.
No one can quite remember when the Goldberg family’s old shop closed its doors, but it’s just hit the market and worth a fortune because of the secret at the back of the garden.
“It’s been shut for at least 20 years,” one local said of the dilapidated yet charming double-storey building at 63 Fitzwilliam Rd, Vaucluse.
Another said: “My sister used to get me to go there and buy her ciggies when she was 13 and that was many, many years ago.”
The veteran agent charged with selling the property, Ray White Double Bay’s Craig Pontey with colleague Violet Farebrother, says: “Everyone’s been chasing it ever since I came to Double Bay in 1980.”
They have a $13m guide for the shop with residence above at a May 5 auction, which, on the face of it, looks a little excessive — until you become aware that this is a prized waterfront property.
The gently sloping block is overgrown with lantana and ferns, but …
… it’s right on the waterfront.
The gently sloping 588 sqm block is overgrown with lantana and ferns, but there’s no mistaking the boats bobbing about on the harbour below.
Some of the locals remember the renowned solicitor Leon Goldberg owning both the shop and the house next door at 65 Fitzwilliam.
Property records show Goldberg sold the house to Michelle Shein, wife of the former Dimension Data chairman, Jon Shein, for $5.5m in 2001.
Jon Shein, with brothers David and Steven, boosted the family’s net worth to at least $200m in 2001 when they sold their remaining holdings in their company, Com Tech Communications, to the South-African-based Dimension Data.
The dilapidated shop is now in the name of Annie Goldberg.
The view back towards the shop and residence.
63 Fitzwilliam St, Vaucluse. The Sheins live in the 1492 sqm block next door.
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