In recent days, Bank of America Corporation has been continuing to make changes to its real estate infrastructure. Rather than retaining hundreds of employees in its Charlotte-based real estate business, Lincoln Harris, those employees are being shuffled into two of the largest real estate service firms in the world, CBRE and JLL. The work completed by this faction accounts for nearly 26 million square feet of commercial property throughout the southeast, mainly office spaces and bank branches associated with Bank of America.
This adjustment will cause changes for a few hundred Bank of America employees who currently work globally as well as at the corporate headquarters in Charlotte. The bank will retain a small staff in-house to help manage the ongoing relationship with CBRE and JLL.
Charlotte-based corporate spokeswoman Jennifer Darwin indicates that Bank of America has decided that the move will streamline its real estate business. While the company has worked with several different real estate brokers in the past, the move will narrow those outside firms involved with the bank’s business to just two highly-touted enterprises. This realignment of the bank’s real estate infrastructure is a continuation of many other changes that it has undergone recently to streamline and simplify the company, according to Darwin.
Although Bank of America has been working in collaboration with Lincoln Harris for many years, including managing the bank’s prominent corporate center in Charlotte, Darwin claims that the bank is simply looking to reorganize and wishes nothing but good fortune to its former real estate partner.
CBRE, formerly CB Richard Ellis Group, currently handles the northeastern portfolio, international real estate and critical data centers for Bank of America worldwide. Jones Lange LaSalle, JLL, cares for the bank’s western United States, Canada and India portfolios. The existing commitment and familiarity with Bank of America make these two firms a natural fit for this new venture.
The transition period from the current real estate configuration is expected to be complete by September 1, with those employees shifting from Lincoln Harris to new positions with CBRE and JLL. While Bank of America cannot promise that all of its employees will find identical positions in the new companies, it does plan to assist those find themselves without positions at CBRE and JLL to find new opportunities. Most employees will simply find themselves working in a new building but still with Bank of America.
