Transforming global corporate real estate strategy: Koch's partnership with JLL

With 23 projects completed across 3 countries and 8 U.S. states, plus 84 advisory engagements managed in 2024, JLL's tailored approach drives measurable results, as demonstrated through its innovative partnership with Koch Inc.

As a large, complex private corporation in the United States, Koch oversees a diverse set of global companies, subsidiaries and affiliates. When seeking to enhance real estate services across these diverse entities and generate global value, Koch turned to JLL as its strategic partner.

Koch is renowned for its far-reaching involvement in the chemicals, energy, fiber and polymers, minerals, fertilizer, pulp and paper industries, as well as technology, software and investing.

Its 120,000-plus employees across more than 50 countries occupy 140 million square feet of space in diverse facilities around the world, including administrative offices, labs, warehouse, manufacturing and mixed-use properties.

Throughout its 85-year history of growth, Koch recognized that its internal corporate real estate (CRE) team, despite being strong and capable, required enhanced expertise, integrated services and tools with global capabilities to maximize its portfolio value. Koch sought a strategic partner capable of delivering comprehensive real estate solutions while also aligning seamlessly with the company's distinctive culture and core business values.

Koch also needed its partner to help establish a centralized portfolio data system to enable comprehensive real estate optimization, along with advanced technologies to enhance operational efficiency and drive data-informed improvements across workplace environments, facilities and overall portfolio performance.

Koch determined that JLL would provide the best talent with relevant experience to be an ideal strategic partner whose cultural fit would advance its CRE priorities.

“JLL offers the key capabilities and the global footprint needed to serve our business,” says Shannon Angle, Vice President, Land, Infrastructure, Facilities and Transactions (LIFT), Koch. “JLL’s vision and values are aligned with those of our Principle-Based Management™, or PBM philosophy, making JLL a great partner for creating a new, tailored approach to delivering real estate services. Together, we created an organization that embodies our PBM principles and also ensures that our companies can receive the real estate solutions they need.”

PBM is a framework based on principles of human progress that enable individuals and organizations to succeed long term by creating superior value for others. It encourages individuals to embrace mutual benefit, integrity, humility and continuous improvement, leveraging the principles of entrepreneurship, discovery and transformation. This encourages everyone to be collaborative innovators and value creators—ideologies embraced by both JLL and Koch.

Taking a step back from the traditional, full-service IFM model, JLL and the Koch team undertook a CRE transformation process. The goal was to reimagine how the real estate function could best serve the individual companies and the corporation with tailored solutions.

The team collaborated to create an innovative, customized service delivery model, offering a menu of FM services that would better meet the needs of the various Koch companies and their varied real estate assets. The new approach would deliver tailored real estate solutions, drive efficiency and create value across the Koch corporate organization.

Full-service IFM is an option, but companies also can choose a more limited, tailored scope of FM support. A company may want to start with site assessment and asset management recommendations to optimize equipment life cycles; seek consultations on energy-efficient lighting, compressed air systems, energy and utility management; or general operational efficiency. Or they can choose targeted FM Flex services, augmenting in-house services with mobile engineering, vendor management, janitorial services, chiller maintenance or other specific services.

The companies can rely on LIFT for not only FM, but also for nearly any real estate service needed—from occupancy planning, workplace strategy and relocation management to portfolio optimization, transaction management, project management, lease administration and more. For instance, LIFT has advised on workplace strategy, look and feel guides as well as design visualizations and insights from JLL’s annual Occupancy Planning Benchmarking Report.

To support Koch’s talent recruitment and retention strategies, LIFT provides experience services that include curated programs and amenities aligned with the individual business’ vision for its workplaces. LIFT’s experience services encompass event management, office logistics support, transportation support for employee commutes, and food and beverage.

Within LIFT, the Integrated Solutions Management (ISM) team provides a single point of accountability for projects and initiatives. ISM creates innovative approaches, adapts them to the stakeholders’ requirements and drives collaboration between LIFT and stakeholders to meet business objectives. ISM leaders also look to optimize resources and manage project risk while maintaining high-quality services.