Stephen B. Siegel, Lewis Miller, Ken Meyerson and Richard Karson of Insignia/ESG negotiated the lease for the six-story structure at 27-01 Bridge Plaza. "In a nutshell," says Miller, "the Long Island City site meets nearly all of MetLife's requirements. The building is literally a 15-minute commute from the Manhattan headquarters. The gut-rehab, which is well underway, will provide a clean pallet for MetLife. The company will have operational control over the building. Because of its close proximity to Manhattan, the employee retention rate is expected to be higher than it would be had our client opted for the suburbs."

Under the terms of an agreement reached between MetLife and the city, the company will relocate the 962 employees to Long island City, but continue to house its corporate headquarters and approximately 500 employees at 1 Madison Ave. It will also add 550 jobs over the next 20 years and in return receive $26.3 million (net present value) in discretionary tax and energy incentives over the same period. The state will also add $4.3 million in grants and loans for worker training and renovation costs.

MetLife currently occupies the entire 1.4-miliion-sf building on Madison Avenue. It recently leased approximately 1.2 million sf to Credit Suisse First Boston. The agreement calls for the retention of 270,000 sf. MetLife was looking to relocate about 1,900 employees and was seeking sites across the river in New Jersey. Through the city's Industrial Development Agency, the Long Island City site was selected and with state and city assistance, another 300 or so employees will be relocated to offices including 1 Penn Plaza in Manhattan, Hauppauge in Suffolk County, Long Island, and a new White Plains facility in Westchester County.