Case Studies

To review case studies of Jim Roberts and Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC please choose one of the areas below or scroll down:

Consulting
Corporate
Governmental

CONSULTING

PROPERTY RE-DEVELOPMENT

In 2005 CB Richard Ellis retained Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC to lead the sale of a 60 acre parcel of property located in Omaha, Nebraska for a Fortune 500 client.  Over the next 18 months Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC served as the project coordinator – working with the client, CB Richard Ellis, the developer and the City of Omaha to coordinate the successful re-entitlement of the property.  The negotiations included securing $6.3 million in infrastructure improvements for the area around the development and ensuring a design for the new retail development that met the needs of the City and the surrounding neighbors.

This project was successfully completed during the fall of 2006.  The client received $7.2 million from the sale of the property, the City received $6.3 million in needed infrastructure improvements, and the developers were able to secure a Super Target store as an anchor store with much of the adjacent property pre-leased before construction started.

In 2004 CB Richard Ellis retained Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC to lead the evaluation of a 138 acre parcel of property located in the Metro-Denver area for a Fortune 500 client.  The property is composed of a state of the art Class A office building and a nearly vacant older manufacturing complex.  Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC has served as the project coordinator – working with the client, CB Richard Ellis, different developers and the local municipal officials to evaluate how the property can be best re-entitled for a more productive use.  The evaluation has included various environmental impairment issues, the existing zoning of the property, the existing use of the property, the operational expenses of the complex, the future needs of the client and the future needs of the community.

The evaluation included extensive financial modeling to determine the financial impacts on the client -whether they should re-locate their operations or to renovate a portion on the existing manufacturing building for future use.  A recommendation has been made to subdivide the state of the art office building from the older manufacturing complex.  The client will work with a developer to renovate a 300,000 square foot section of the old manufacturing building and use it as an anchor for a new 108 acre mixed use development.  The estimated savings for the client will be $50 million over the next 12 years.

FORD/CB RICHARD ELLIS

Ford Motor Company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of automobiles. It manufactures and sells cars and trucks, and related service parts under Aston Martin, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, and Volvo brand names. The company also provides retail customers with after-the-sale vehicle services and products in areas, such as maintenance and light repair, heavy repair, collision, vehicle accessories, and extended service warranty. Its financial services subsidiary, Ford Motor Credit Company, offers various automotive financing products to and through automotive dealers worldwide. The company operates in approximately 200 markets across 6 continents.

In 2004, CB Richard Ellis retained Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC to support the CB Richard Ellis team dedicated to the Ford account.  As part of this assignment, the CBRE team won the facilities management services work at 12 Parts Distribution Centers across the United States.  Ford and CB Richard Ellis teamed up to provide integrated facilities management services for over 3.1 million square feet of distribution center space.  Jim Roberts served as the facilities management leader for the CB Richard Ellis team.  In the area of janitorial services alone, the new management structure produced a 34.5% savings.

Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC worked seamlessly over an 18 month period with CB Richard Ellis through the initial bid and request for proposal, the transition of work from another service provider to CB Richard Ellis, and finally through the full operational  phase.

BUSINESS ACQUISITION

In the fall of 2006, Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC was retained as a consultant to support the purchase of a small business in the Benton Harbor area.  The support includes determining the fair market value of the company, assisting in the initial contacts for the sale, and coordinating the financial, legal and accounting aspects of the acquisition.   This project is on-going.

CORPORATE

AVAYA/CB RICHARD ELLIS

Avaya is a global leader of communication systems, applications and services; Avaya brings together unique capabilities with system integrator technology companies to deliver securable, reliable networks to over 90% of the Fortune 500.   CB Richard Ellis is the world’s largest commercial real estate company. 

Jim Roberts served as the Global Managing Director for the successful partnering relationship between Avaya and CB Richard Ellis.  This partnering model transcended into every area of the Avaya’s business — as Avaya’s corporate real estate group partnered with CB Richard Ellis to deliver facilities management, portfolio management, transaction management and administrative services solutions that supported the needs of Avaya’s business in 52 countries. 

Avaya was a spin off from Lucent technologies and had 295 offices in the United States and Canada; 19 offices in Latin America; 70 offices in EMEA; and 19 offices in Asia/Pacific.   The team lead by Jim Roberts helped Avaya/CB Richard Ellis to gain a complete understanding of the Avaya real estate portfolio—where it existed and how it is used—to align real estate with the needs of the business.  

Using technology, and re-engineering real estate processes on a global basis, allowed the team to use portfolio information, facilities management data, and transaction data to improve service delivery and reduce operating costs.   During the FY03 fiscal year the team was able to reduce the facilities operating budget by $7 million ($4 million in recurring cost savings and $3 million in one time cost savings).   The model has been successful and Avaya/CB Richard Ellis still work as a partnership today.

Whirlpool Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances.  The company’s products are marketed in more than 170 countries worldwide.  Whirlpool was looking to streamline the management of its world headquarters, establish processes that would maximize their real estate dollar, and expand this model to international locations.

In 1997, Whirlpool Corporation and CB Richard Ellis teamed up to provide integrated facilities management services for the Benton Harbor and Saint Joseph non-manufacturing facilities.  Jim Roberts served as the Managing Director for the Whirlpool/CB Richard Ellis team that delivered during the first year of the partnership more than $2 million in savings from the facilities operating budget while providing the same level of service, - and in some cases a higher level of service.

The relationship grew to include the facilities engineering services for the Whirlpool Clyde manufacturing plant and transaction management services in Asia and Latin America.  Although the Whirlpool/CB Richard Ellis team partnership ended in 2002, the majority of the team are still in place as members of JLL. 

Earth Tech is a subsidiary of Tyco International and is a multinational company providing consulting, engineering and construction services in the water / wastewater, transportation, environmental, and facilities markets.  Earth Tech also provides water infrastructure development by providing design, construction, financing and operate services for water projects.   

Jim Roberts worked in a variety of project management and regulatory specialty positions in the environmental consulting group.  He managed a team of engineers and scientists who lead and/or supported risk assessment strategies, the acquisition and disposition of properties, environmental remediation projects and the permitting of projects on a state and federal level.

GOVERNMENTAL

STATE OF MICHIGAN

Jim Roberts worked as an environmental engineer for the Department of Natural Resources, now the Department of Environmental Quality, for the state of State of Michigan.  During his employment with the DNR, he worked on permitting hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities; the regulatory compliance oversight of these facilities, and was responsible for the promulgation of the state and rules for the hazardous waste program.  His work with the DNR required frequent interaction with the federal EPA, state field office personnel, the State Fire Marshal’s office, the State Attorney General’s office and the State Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

Jim Roberts worked as a sanitary engineer for the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  During his employment with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts he worked as a sanitary engineer working on a construction grants program for the design and construction of water treatment plants and distribution systems for the Division of Water Supply.

 Jim Roberts worked as a junior civil engineer for the Department of Transportation for the State of California.  As a junior civil engineer he supported the construction and maintenance of State Highways doing soils and foundation work in the Los Angeles district.