Trans World Equities signs $17.3M refi after theater tenant swap in Hell’s Kitchen

Trans World Equities through the entity Palace Funding Inc. as borrower signed a refi loan with lender East West Bank valued at $17.3 million for the Studio Seaview theater building (J9) at 305 West 43rd Street, formerly known as 681 Eighth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. The space was previously occupied by the Tony Kiser Theater, but was taken over by the avant garde Studio Seaview, Playbill reported in January 2025.
The loan closed on June 30, 2025 and was recorded on August 19, 2025. The prior lender was Wells Fargo which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million. The property has 24,000 square feet of built space and 36,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 60,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $720 and the price per buildable square foot is $288 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 signatory for Trans World Equities was Richard E. Carroll . The signatory for East West Bank was Yongli Horowitz .

The property

The specialty building in Hell’s Kitchen has 24,000 square feet of built space and 36,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 60,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,000 square feet. 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 city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8 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 $1,325 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 Hell’s Kitchen, The bulk, or 39 percent of the 40.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Hell’s Kitchen has 2.9 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $818.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. For development, Hell’s Kitchen has 1.6 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 16th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other specialty buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 26 commercial properties representing 201,502 square feet of the 733,306 square feet. The largest owner is Lawrence Lipman, followed by Edison Properties and then Acuity Capital Partners.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 66,722 square feet. The largest is a 114-unit, 35,225 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by McSam Hotel Group and filed by Sam Chang with plans filed November 26, 2014 and permitted August 26, 2015. The second largest is a 29-unit, 31,497 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Yevgeniy Lvovskiy and filed by Yevgeniy Lvovskiy with plans filed April 21, 2022 and permitted January 26, 2023.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 733,306 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 9 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Trans World Equities owned at least 13 commercial properties with 83 residential units in New York City with 201,527 square feet and a city-determined market value of $76.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $108.7 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 64 percent of the 201,527 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 21 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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