The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company secured a $155 million mortgage for 555 West 42nd Street in Hell’s Kitchen, according to documents filed with the city today.
The property, which sits between 10th and 11th avenues, is a 44-story building with 418 apartments and eight commercial units. It contains the Hell’s Kitchen outpost of improv comedy performance space Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Last October, the comedy troupe signed a 7,000 square foot lease to take over a 160-seat theater previously occupied by the Pearl Theatre Company
ING Capital is the lender in the transaction, according to the city’s Department of Finance. The firm assumed the $54.6 million mortgage on the property from Northwestern Mutual Life and provided $100.3 million in gap financing, records show. MassMutual secured the debt through its subsidiary Barings.
MassMutual, which is based in Springfield, Massachusetts, merged its four asset management businesses in 2016, and claims $275 billion in assets under management. The companies in the merger included Barings, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, Babson Capital and Wood Creek Capital Management.
The firm is usually on the other side of debt deals, serving as lender for AEW Capital’s $180 million refinancing of 330 Hudson Street and Trinity Capital’s $189.5 million construction loan for 77 Greenwich Street. However, it is rumored to be in talks to sell up to $800 million worth of hotels to Chinese billionaire Cai Kui.