Owners of I Sodi Buy Neighboring West Village Retail Space

Rita Sodi and Jody Williams are adding to their West Village corner.

Three years after moving their acclaimed Tuscan restaurant, I Sodi, to the corner of Bleecker and Grove streets in the West Village, an entity tied to Sodi paid $6.5 million to buy the retail condo at 312-314 Bleecker Street, property records show. They bought the space from Lorenzo Barraco, through Las Vegas-based entity Barracco Realty.

I Sodi had been housed at a small, ramshackle space at 105 Christopher Street from 2008 to 2023 before upsizing to the space at 314 Bleecker.

It’s not clear if they’re planning to expand I Sodi, or open a new concept with the purchase, their first owned retail location in New York City. Representatives for the restaurant did not respond to a request for comment.

PincusCo first reported the deal.

Sodi and Williams, who are married, have built a mini-empire across the blocks south of Christopher Street in the West Village.

I Sodi is right around the corner from their all-day cafe Buvette, and just across the way from the Aperol Spritz-haven Bar Pisellino and Italian restaurant Via Carota, which is regularly accompanied by lines snaking down the sidewalk. The pair also opened the Shaker-inspired tavern Commerce Inn down the street in 2021.

Sodi and Williams are just the latest restaurateurs to buy up prime retail space rather than navigate the competitive leasing market. In the third quarter, ground-floor availability fell 11 percent across 16 of Manhattan’s prime retail corridors and average asking rents rose 4 percent, according to a CBRE market report.

In September, the group behind Boucherie and Olio e Più paid $7.3 million for a 4,000-square-foot space at 87 Seventh Avenue. The group behind Friedman’s and Pastrami Queen also bought an Upper West Side retail co-op unit last month for $4.1 million to open another location of Friedman’s.

The appeal for restaurants to own their own space is obvious. No worrying about bad landlords or lease negotiations or, in the worst case, getting booted from a space. But it’s only the large and well-capitalized restaurant groups able to take over their own space, said Colliers’ Zach Redding, who represented the sellers at 87 Seventh Avenue, along with Dylan Kane.

“You try to go get a reservation at any West Village spot or Soho spot — it’s impossible to get in,” Redding said. ”They’re all doing so well that they have some excess capital.”

Market conditions have also turned in favor of owner-operators as interest rates have hit property values, causing cap rates to climb, according to Kane. “Not as many investors can pay the numbers where someone would actually sell a building today,” he said. “So these operators are now able to get into the real estate.”

Restaurants can also get creative with financing, using existing credit lines or collateralizing against other assets the business has, he said.

Sodi and Williams are also making personal property moves. After selling their co-op at 136 Waverly Place for $3 million in 2025, they bought a shiny, white-walled condo at 421 Hudson Street for $4 million in March, according to property records.

They have also set their eyes on other parts of the city in recent years. They announced a second location of Bar Pisellino, which also expanded its West Village footprint a few years ago, will open at the base of the Flatiron Building next year. Last year, they also announced that they will be overseeing a food and beverage revamp at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including its uptown Cloisters location.