Restaurateurs Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, who helped turn some blocks west of Seventh Avenue into a gastronomic go-to in Greenwich Village, have said goodbye to their apartment in the neighborhood.
The chefs and business owners, whose spots include I Sodi, Via Carota and Commerce Inn, have sold a two-bedroom, two-bath co-op on Waverly Place for about $3 million, according to a tax record that appeared in the city register Tuesday.
The spouses had forked over $2.5 million for the 1,200-square-foot prewar corner unit in 2016 and so can savor a slight profit at a time when some units are trading at discounts to what they sold for a decade ago.
The apartment, which features a living room with a fireplace, a primary suite with a walk-in closet and, naturally, a well-appointed kitchen—offering a wine refrigerator, open shelving and marble counters—also sold for more than Sodi and Williams first sought.
They listed the unit in September at $2.95 million, according to Streeteasy, and so also managed to pull off the rare as-of-late feat of selling for more than they asked—and quickly at that. Indeed, the Waverly Place place went into contract after a speedy 18 days and was purchased with cash, said Tami Kurtz, the broker with the firm The Agency who marketed the property. She said the unit’s celebrity-chef cachet helped its buzz.
“We didn’t promote the apartment with Rita and Jodi’s names out of respect for their privacy,” said Kurtz, though magazine articles had previously linked the co-op and the couple. “Buyers already knew who lived there.”
Kurtz added that the buyer, Peyton Evans, a Florida resident, attended the closing Jan. 7 using FaceTime and without once setting foot in the home.
Whether Sodi and Williams are relocating nearby, leaving the Village for elsewhere in the city or venturing farther afield is unclear. A search of property records did not turn up any new home purchases in their name, and Kurtz declined to comment on their plans.
But the couple’s mini empire of eateries, whose first outpost arrived in 2008 when Sodi opened I Sodi at 105 Christopher St. (though it expanded into bigger digs at 314 Bleecker St. in 2023) and which today also includes Buvette and Bar Pisellino, shows no signs of shrinking or slowing down.
In fact, Pisellino, which first opened its doors in 2019 in a flatiron-shaped site at Grove Street and Seventh Avenue, expanded last month into two additional storefronts on its block.
Likewise Buvette, in addition to its original 14-year home at 42 Grove St., today has sister locations in Paris, Tokyo and Seoul.
Sodi, an ex-Calvin Klein executive, and Williams, who once worked as a chef at nearby Morandi, reportedly met when Williams stopped in at I Sodi for a meal that included a plate of fried artichokes. The couple nabbed a James Beard award for best New York chefs in 2019.
