11-year Diamond deal at 280 Park Avenue tower.

Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC, a newly-formed investment firm, has signed a sublease for its corporate headquarters to occupy the 24th & 25th floors at 280 Park Avenue--East Building.

Diamond Castle, which also receives expansion options upon this lease signing, was established by Larry Schloss, the former head of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and CSFB Private Equity, the private equity arm of Credit Suisse First Boston.

The CB Richard Ellis team of Robert Meyers and Timothy Gibson arranged the 11-year transaction on behalf of Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC. CBRE's Ivan Hillman and Paul Muratore acted on behalf of sub-landlord Whitehead Mann, Inc., the executive recruitment firm. Boston Properties is the landlord of both 280 Park Avenue--East Building as well as 280 Park Avenue--West Building which, combined, total 1.2 million square feet.

Widely recognized as the executive behind one of the largest private equity groups in the world, Mr. Schloss formed Diamond Castle Holdings in 2004. The firm occupied temporary office space at 230 Park Avenue prior to its commitment at 280 Park Avenue--East Building.

"We found the CBRE team to be extremely responsive to our needs and they provided us with the highest level of service. We couldn't be more pleased," said Mr. Schloss.

"After an extensive analysis of our client's image and growth requirements, 280 Park Avenue-East Building was our first choice. A major factor in our decision to commit to a long-term deal was the excellent reputation of Boston Properties and their extensive history servicing high profile tenants such as Diamond Castle", said Mr. Meyers. "The Whitehead Mann offices at 280 Park Avenue--East Building were fully built and ready for our client's immediate occupancy, it was a tremendous value-add."

The 384,000-square foot 280 Park Avenue--East Building office tower is located on Park Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets and other tenants in the 29-story building include Deutsche Bank, The National Football League, KPMG and the Oppenheimer Trust Company.