Coldwell Banker Reportedly Closing Offices In Chicago
The move follows layoffs by parent company Anywhere, which said the company would be looking for more ways to cut costs, including office space.
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Fresh off the departure of its national CEO, layoffs at its parent company and with teams departing for competing brands, Coldwell Banker is reportedly closing offices in Chicagoland.
Coldwell Banker Realty in Greater Chicagoland will consolidate its office space in the Midwest region by closing an undisclosed number of offices, according to The Real Deal.
It’s unclear which offices are impacted and if layoffs will occur along with the downsizing. The move followed statements by Coldwell Banker parent Anywhere that it would look for ways to cut costs, including office space. The company declined to respond to questions from Inman, instead pointing to a statement shared by Ayoub Rabah, president of Coldwell Banker Realty in Greater Chicagoland.
“Our strategy is to focus and continue to invest in providing regional support offices — and so our needs on where we maintain physical office space has changed,” Rabah said in a statement.
Neither Rabah nor the brokerage’s public relations office responded to questions. Multiple brokers in various Chicago offices declined to comment.
Gary Leavenworth, a broker with the franchise’s Naperville office, confirmed he had heard of office consolidation but declined to elaborate.
A spokeswoman said the changes involved the brokerage-owned Chicago company and not Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group, the largest Chicago-area franchise-owned brokerage.
In his statement, Rabah pointed to agents’ abilities to work remotely, access the company’s technology on the go and a broader shift online by consumers.
“A large number of brick-and-mortar offices are no longer required in today’s dynamic real estate environment,” Rabah said in the statement. “What is required are regionally located state-of-the-art facilities where agents can park and obtain white-glove marketing and administrative support.”
But the closures would be only the latest apparent setback for Coldwell Banker.
The firm lost four teams representing about 20 real estate agents and administrative staff that represented nearly $150 million in average annual sales volume to RE/MAX since December. The teams were previously affiliated with Coldwell Banker Hubbell BriarWood in Lansing, Michigan, and included some of the top teams in the state.
Coldwell Banker also recently saw the departure of M. Ryan Gorman as its CEO. Gorman had been the firm’s CEO for three years before leaving the role.
Anywhere said Gorman would remain on as a “strategic adviser,” and it announced Sue Yannaccone was the company’s new CEO.
Anywhere, which is also the parent company of Century 21, Sotheby’s International Realty, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and others, went on to close its iBuying efforts and conduct a round of layoffs earlier this month.
In an email to employees announcing the cuts, Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider described “a more difficult current and upcoming housing environment,” and outlined a plan to cut costs and ensure spending has a return on investment.
That plan includes “reimagining our real estate brokerage offices to be more efficient.”
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