Big names out in force for classic hits of 2005.

You can't beat the classics. In this year's frantic sales race, the most sought-after properties turned out to be those with legendary names, with MetLife's world-famous Park Avenue tower leading the pack.

In the Grand Central sub-market, the MetLife building accounted for almost half of the total sales volume in the past six month, having brought in the biggest price ever paid for a Manhattan office property with $1.7 billion.

And even though buyer, Tishman Speyer Properties, paid a fortune, losing bidders, such as Reckson Associates and Macklowe Propertiers, were sorry to see the 2.8 million s/f gem slip out of their hands.

A little further uptown, Metropolitan Life Insurance company helped out the real estate industry again, this time paying $385 million for a 520,000 s/f class A office building at 575 Fifth Ave.

SL Green Realty took a long hard look at Grand Central as well, investing $105 million and $91.2 million in 28 W. 44th St. and 19 W. 44th St., respectively.

Overall, sales transactions in the city's premier district brought in $2.8 million. Richard Persichetti, a research manager with Grubb & Ellis, offered 450 Lexington Ave.--which Shorenstein Co. sold to Shaw LLC for $450 million--as a vivid example of the possibilities the market offers. "Interestingly enough, that building traded back in July of 2003, for $310 million," he noted. "That's a 30% turnaround in less than three years."

The Flatiron District hasn't done too bad this year either, with several well-known properties bought within months of each other.

First, the Chetrit brothers paid $350 million for the International Toy Center at 1107 Broadway and 200 Fifth Ave. Then, SEB Immobilien purchased One Park Ave. for $323 million. And, SL Green Realty Corp. emerged from another close bidding war to take on One Madison Ave. for $918 million.

In a development that is becoming all too familiar, a portion of the 1.4 million s/f One Madison Ave. and all of the 1.2 million s/f at the International Toy Center are now slated for residential conversions.

The midtown west sub-market has continued at its usual pace. This spring, Verizon took advantage of the heated sales pace to make a profit on its 1095 Sixth Ave. headquarters, with Equity Office Properties Trust happily bidding $505 million for a chance to own the 1.03 million s/f building.

Stanley Cheara, Lloyd Goldman and Jeffrey Feil went in for a joint $54 million investment at 590 Fifth Ave. And SL Green made $60.5 million on the sale of its 121,321 s/f office building at 1414 Ave. of the Americas. Overall, some 20 properties have traded hands in $3.2 billion worth of transactions.

Downtown saw less than $1 billion in sales, encompassing seven buildings.

Peter Kalikow parted with his 1 million s/f 195 Broadway property for the sum of $270 million.

And ING Capital Group, along with Murray Hill, took home $30 million after selling 150,000 s/f of office space at 83 Maiden Lane to the Association for the Help of Retarded Children.

But according to Persichetti, buyers have been more reluctant to pay top dollar for buildings in such a sluggish market. "There doesn't seem to be much going on," he said. "Downtown sales are similar to downtown leasing."

On the positive side, he doesn't think we saw the last of the big transactions in the rest of Manhattan.

"Every time you look at Manhattan, you think all the big properties have been sold," Persichetti said.

"But some of the investors are looking at it as a quick way to make a [nice profit] on their building. Buildings that have been sold less than a year ago can be sold again. You always run into that."