A city restaurateur is leaving the Upper East Side.
Former Smith & Wollensky owner Fortunato “Nick” Valenti has sold his Park Avenue apartment for $4.4 million, nearly 30% less than what he was initially asking.
Valenti and his wife, Linda, listed the apartment for $6.2 million in the summer of 2023. The 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom unit features a private elevator, three exposures, herringbone hardwood floors and a fireplace. The co-op building, near East 74th Street, offers a gym and outdoor playground.
The deal closed April 8, according to the city register.
The buyers were Surya and Tina Chadha, whose occupations Crain’s could not identify by press time.
Valenti rose to prominence in the food-service business as the CEO of Restaurant Associates, which operated eateries for institutions including the Four Seasons and Tavern on the Green. In 2006 he joined with others to engineer a buyout and take the company private, merging it with Patina Restaurant Group, according to news reports at the time. Not done with dealmaking, he joined with Bunker Hill Capital to acquire the publicly traded Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group for $98 million in 2007.
An Irish firm acquired the company in 2016, the same year Valenti and his wife bought a $14 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, according to The Real Deal. In 2019 he stepped down as the CEO of Patina.
Adam Modlin, the agent from Modlin Group who marketed the property, did not return a request for comment by press time.
