CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two service provider heavyweights, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL at www.joneslanglasalle.com) and Trammell Crow Co. (TCC at www.trammellcrow.com), have joined forces in signing a major collaborative agreement with Bank of America (BOA at www.bofa.com). With the new full-service contract, the two firms will provide outsourced services for 65 million sq. ft. (5.85 million sq. m.) of the bank's U.S. real estate portfolio.

        Almost 1,100 employees of JLL and TCC will work on the collaborative account, according to officials from the two service providers.
        The new contract with JLL and TCC consolidates Bank of America's real estate service providers from five to two. The cooperative agreement is "intended to provide a more strategic level of operation and promote a stronger partnership between Bank of America and its service providers," according to a statement released by BOA.

Managing Director Curt Grantham will head the BOA account for Trammell Crow Co.

        According to JLL and TCC officials, the agreement, which covers properties in 38 states, includes:

• day-to-day property management and maintenance,
• project management,
• transaction work,
• real estate accounting and reporting, and
• real estate call center operations.

Collaborative Strategies,
Separate Territories

With the new agreement, JLL and TCC will work together on overall strategic issues while maintaining separate territories.

Jones Lang LaSalle Managing Director Bruce Ficke, who'll head the BOA account for his firm.

        Jones Lang LaSalle will be responsible for approximately 30 million sq. ft. (2.7 million sq. m.) of BOA's U.S. portfolio. Those properties are located in the western United States and Illinois, as well as New York City; Buffalo, N.Y.; and El Paso, Texas. Chicago-based JLL will support the BOA contract through major hub offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and San Francisco. Jones Lang LaSalle is assigning 510 employees to service the account.
        Trammell Crow Co. will be responsible for approximately 35 million sq. ft. (3.15 million sq. m.) of BOA's U.S. portfolio. Of that total, five million sq. ft. (450,000 sq. m.) of space is in BOA's headquarters facilities in Charlotte, for which TCC was already providing project management services. Dallas-based TCC will support the BOA contract through major hub offices in Atlanta; Baltimore; Charlotte; Dallas; Houston; Jacksonville, Fla.; Miami; St. Louis; and Tampa, Fla. Jones Lang LaSalle is assigning 580 employees to service the account.

Aiming to 'Maximize Best Practices'

JLL and TCC officials said the new agreement has the potential to set a new precedent for real estate service delivery through its sharing of best systems, processes and procedures.
        "The models we're creating -- both with the bank and with each other -- represent innovative approaches in our industry," said JLL Managing Director Bruce Ficke, who'll head the BOA account for his firm. "Through them, we will be maximizing best practices and, most importantly, serving our largest client in the best possible way."
        Leadership teams from TCC and JLL are now jointly focusing on identifying short, intermediate and long-term goals for each functional area covered in the new BOA agreement, according to the two service firms. The joint work will include developing key performance indicators to measure progress, implementing an overall business planning process, and integrating all the outsourcing effort within BOA's overall business strategy, the two firms reported.
        "Together we will focus on ways to leverage our collective scale, greater purchasing power, new technology and more for the benefit of Bank of America," said TCC Managing Director Curt Grantham, who'll head the BOA account for his firm. "In particular, we will look at new metrics on how to streamline processes, achieve more productivity, eliminate excess costs, and introduce new services," he added.

Long Histories with BOA

Both companies have long histories in providing services to Bank of America.
        Jones Lang LaSalle, which has a worldwide portfolio of some 70 million sq. ft. (6.3 million sq. m.), began its relationship with BOA in 1991. At that time, a Chicago bank, which BOA later acquired, outsourced all property and project management to JLL. With BOA's acquisition of the Chicago bank, the Charlotte-based bank extended the assignment to include its New York properties. In 1995, JLL received the facility and project management responsibility for BOA's California facilities, then added BOA's Northwest properties in 1997 and its transaction services in 1999. That brought the total of BOA properties under JLL management to 15 million sq. ft. (1.35 million sq. m.) prior to the new contract.
        The Chicago-based company also currently manages some two million sq. ft. (180,000 sq. m.) of BOA's properties in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
        TCC, which manages 598 million sq. ft. (53.82 million sq. m.) of facilities, has a relationship with BOA that dates back to 1993. At that time, the company then known as Bank of America signed a facility management contract with the Dallas-based firm that spanned some three million sq. ft. (270,000 sq. m.) in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. BOA later broadened its contract with TCC to include project management, transaction management and strategic services. That contract also expanded TCC's geographic responsibilities to include BOA's headquarters facilities and five Midwest states.