Sustainable corporate real estate change at lightning speed

More than a move

Evolving workplace habits and a billion-dollar acquisition caused one of the largest US brokerage and investment management firms to rethink and optimize its extensive network of offices and facilities.

With over 30,000 employees, this publicly traded corporation has +6M sq. ft. of space across more than 350 locations. Several key events have set real estate changes in motion in recent years. A shift to more remote and hybrid work and the acquisition of another top US brokerage company motivated leaders to rethink their real estate strategy.

A plan was developed to begin optimizing unused or outdated space. In early 2023, the organization identified its first opportunity in a 200K sq. ft. office in Jersey City, NJ.

While the main focus was on vacating the space, Iron Mountain stepped in to recycle and reallocate equipment from the Jersey City office to other internal facilities across the country. And while avoiding the landfill was an important priority, the team had only a matter of days until the project execution deadline.

In about a week, Iron Mountain’s Clean Start team worked closely with facility leaders to catalog, remove, store, and transport high-value and non-standard office equipment to several locations throughout the US. Achieving 100% landfill aversion and meeting the closure deadline meant the organization was quickly ready to tackle its next challenge.

Fifteen more facilities were included in the Clean Start project over the next several months. To date, the program has moved nearly $200,000 worth of top-value equipment and helped the organization continue its commitment to an optimized real estate portfolio and ongoing sustainability.