A living space featuring a large stone fireplace, at the Hilltop Steak House Founders family home. Photo by Surette Media Group | Courtesy of Douglas Elliman
The Lynnfield house was built by Hilltop Steak House founders Frank and Irene Giuffrida has sold for $3.65 million, after just one day on the market.
The deed filed in the Essex County registry was accompanied by a $2.65 million mortgage from M&T Bank.
Listing agent George Sarkis said he pitched against eight other representatives to be the seller’s representative.
“I knew the history of the home,” said Sarkis, co-founder of The Sarkis Team at luxury brokerage Douglas Elliman. “I’ve heard about it, and I could tell a story about it. I felt the love and energy of this home the second I walked in.”
While only on the market officially for a day, the eventual buyers saw the house twice. The first visit was less than ideal as a rainstorm provided a dreary backdrop while there was also no electricity at the home.
“They loved it that day, and then they came back on a sunny day, and that’s when they submitted an offer,” Sarkis said.
The buyers also were attracted to the home due to the quality of the construction and the size of the property.
“The things that the house had that were timeless were the woodwork and carpentry done in the house,” Sarkis said. “The quality of the doors, the quality of the rooms, the bedrooms, the spaces, the beams in the great room, the scale of the house itself, and the floor plan functionality-wise really resonated with the buyer. The three-floor, walk-in closet was a big selling point for our buyers because they want closet space. But the main draw was the land. It’s the land, the privacy, the setback of it and just the overall setting of the home.”
The house was built in 1973 and features five bedrooms and a large stone fireplace. It gained fame for its interiors, including multiple themed rooms like a clown-themed gym and a jungle-themed loft.
Sarkis said the family of the former owners were able to modernize the house from appearing to be stuck in time.
“The sisters, Gina and Tina, just really getting the house a little more to today’s standards,” Sarkis said. “They did a lot of super important renovations. Removing carpets, depersonalizing the home, [the] siding, roofing, landscape. Really delicate items were done to really give people a vision.”
The Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman represented the seller as well as the eventual buyer. The 10,265-square-foot residence was listed for $3.9 million. Sarkis said the buyers’ offer stood out due to a non-financing contingency. Additionally, the buyers wrote a personal note to the sellers.
The buyers will be using the property as their primary residence, Sarkis said.
The Hilltop Steak House restaurant and butcher shop – and its multi-story neon cactus sign – were a North Shore landmark for generations until closing in 2013. The site was later purchased by national multifamily developer Avalon Bay and redeveloped into an apartment complex with retail outbuildings fronting onto Route 1.
The exterior of the former family home of the founders of Hilltop Steak House. Photo by Surette Media Group | Courtesy of Douglas Elliman
A look at a bathroom in the former home of the family that founded Hilltop Steak House. Photo by Surette Media Group | Courtesy of Douglas Elliman
The entrance to the home located on 1215 Main St. in Lynnfield. Photo by Surette Media Group | Courtesy of Douglas Elliman
