According to sources, the duo could fetch in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion. Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the landmark Grand Central Station-area site, while CB Richard Ellis is marketing 1 Madison. Neither firm could comment on the hiring. A MetLife spokesperson says the company is "gauging interest" and notes the company does not have to sell the properties to complete the Traveler's deal, which would make MetLife the largest individual life insurer in North America based on sales.

Leasing at the 2.8-million-sf 200 Park Ave. has been handled by CBRE. Last year Dreyfus inked a 310,000-sf early lease renewal and signed on for another 40,000 sf at the site, which is also home to Barclays Bank, Mitsui and CBRE. Retail tenants include Café Centro, Fleet Bank, Godiva and New York Sports Club. CBRE found tenants for space vacated by law firm Clifford Chance, which planned to move its headquarters to Lower Manhattan. Two international law firms--Hunton & Williams and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher--inked deals totaling 185,000 sf for the remaining office space that was previously occupied by Clifford Chance. Bovis Lend Lease also signed a 15-year lease is for the entire ninth floor of the building, which totals more than 75,000 sf.

Other MetLife sales of late include BlackRock Inc.'s acquisition of Metlife's SSRM Holdings, the holding company of Boston-based State Street Research & Management Co. and SSR Realty Advisors Inc. That deal included approximately $6 million in real estate Heyman Properties closed on the purchase of the 712,000-sf White Plains Plaza office complex in a deal valued at approximately $60 million. Also last year, the firm sold Chicago's Sears Tower for $840 million. And Beacon Capital Partners purchased 501 Boylston St. in Boston for about $130 million in late 2002.