Trans World Equities signs $11.8M refi for retail in Flatiron District

Trans World Equities through the entity Usw Ventures, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Bank of America  valued at $11.8 million for the retail and office building (O5) at 857 Broadway at the corner of 17th Street in the Flatiron District, Manhattan. The building is just north of Union Square.
The deal closed on June 27, 2025 and was recorded on August 12, 2025. The prior lender was Susan Shaw which held debt that had an original loan amount of $4 million.The property has 11,636 square feet of built space and 17,531 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 29,170 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $1,011 and the price per buildable square foot is $403 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The owner bought the property on April 29, 2022, for $22 million. The signatory for Trans World Equities , which also writes its name Transworld Equities, was Richard E. Carroll .

The property

The retail building in Flatiron District has 11,636 square feet of built space and 17,531 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 29,170 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 27 feet and is 116 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,917 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, $2,500 in ECB penalties, one housing violation, and $6,100 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Flatiron District, The majority, or 71 percent of the 23.2 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Flatiron District has 2.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $595.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 18th highest in Manhattan. For development, Flatiron District is the 10th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 4.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 21 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other retail buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 31 commercial properties representing 364,029 square feet of the 871,545 square feet. The largest owner is Related Companies, followed by Eretz Group and then Trans World Equities.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 38,263 square feet. It is a 38,263 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Ken Rosenblum with plans filed April 27, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 47 percent of the 871,545 square feet of built space are office buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Trans World Equities owned at least 12 commercial properties with 83 residential units in New York City with 189,891 square feet and a city-determined market value of $71.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $97 million in debt, with top three lenders as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of America, and Trans World Equities respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 68 percent of the 189,891 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

Direct link to Acris document. link