For Sale: 10 City Blocks In New York City

"The sale would be the biggest deal for a single American property in modern times. It would undoubtedly transform what has been an affordable, leafy redoubt for generations of Manhattan's middle class: teachers and nurses, firefighters and police officers, office clerks and construction workers."

The 80-acre property, one tenth the size of New York's Central Park, stretches along the East River and comprises 110 buildings and 11,000 apartments. Met Life, the current owner, is divesting itself of much of its New York City real estate holdings. The company built the two projects 60 years ago with government subsides for returning war veterans.

"The deal is likely to lead to profound changes for many of the 25,000 residents of the two complexes, where two-thirds of the apartments have regulated rents at roughly half the market rate. Any new owner paying the equivalent of $450,000 per apartment is going to be eager to create a money-making luxury enclave, real estate executives say."