The property will be owned by a joint venture between TSP, the New York City Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement System with additional financing provided by Lehman Brothers. MetLife will maintain offices in the building and will also retain signage rights for the property.

When announcing its proposed $11.5-billion acquisition of Citigroup's Traveler's Life and Annuity at the beginning of the year, MetLife said it could finance the cash portion of the transaction through a combination of cash on hand, debt, mandatory convertible securities and selected asset sales. The company then gave CB Richard Ellis the task of marketing 1 Madison Ave., while Cushman & Wakefield was selected to market 200 Park. When the pair was put up for sale, the duo was expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion, sources said.

The 100% leased Grand Central-area landmark is home to Dreyfus, which last year inked a 310,000-sf early lease renewal and signed on for another 40,000 sf, Barclays Bank, Mitsui and CBRE. Retail tenants include Café Centro, Bank of America, Godiva and New York Sports Club.