"This building is an anchor for the neighborhood," Scott A. Singer, executive vice president of the Singer & Bassuk Organization, which provided financing for the project, tells GlobeSt.com. "It will provide a base for continuing development in the area." An undisclosed number of MetLife employees will move from Manhattan into the new facility.

Phase I was completed last year. The fourth-generation owner/development company Brause purchased the 404,000-sf former Rolls Royce manufacturing facility in 1980. The building then underwent a reconstruction throughout the '90s, and in 2001 MetLife moved into the six-story space, Brause says.

Also on hand for the event were Queens borough president Helen Marshall, state assembly representatives Cathy Nolan and Michael Gianaris, New York City Councilmember Eric Gioia and Long Island City Business Development Corp. president Gale Baron.