JLL

JLL—short for Jones Lang LaSalle—is one of the largest commercial real estate services companies globally. It manages properties and brokers deals in pretty much every sector of the industry in every market, including retail, office, industrial and hospitality in large regions such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

JLL is also noted for its investment sales services and its research into commercial real estate trends.

The Chicago-based company has approximately 91,000 employees in 80 countries, ranking it with only a handful of other such firms in reach and client roster. As of 2020, the publicly traded JLL was managing some 4.6 billion square feet of facilities and properties worldwide, and it handled 37,500 leasing transactions covering 1.07 billion square feet in 2019, according to its website.

The origins of this hugeness lay in the 1999 merger of Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Partners. Those companies dated from the 1700s and the 1960s, respectively.

Acquisitions followed, including the Staubach Company in 2008. In 2019, JLL acquired capital markets services firm HFF, which had more than $650 million in revenue the previous year. The HFF deal was reportedly valued at $2 billion in stock and cash.

Christian Ulbrich is JLL’s global president and chief executive, and Peter Riguardi is the president of JLL’s operations in the New York area.