The 1670 Broadway tower as seen from 17th Street on Nov. 21, 2023. (BusinessDen file)
TIAA, one of the nation’s largest financial firms, informed its employees Tuesday morning that it is closing its Denver operations center over the next two years, putting about 1,000 jobs at risk.
“We are confident that these decisions are right for the future of TIAA. Our goal is to ensure that our locations best serve our clients, provides strong real estate investments, are cost-efficient, and inspire associates to do their best work,” TIAA’s Chief People Officer Claire Borelli and Chief Administrative Officer Derek Ferguson informed employees in a letter.
TIAA will close its Jacksonville, Fla., office in July 2025 and its Denver center, 1670 Broadway, in July 2026. A data center in Broomfield, 11525 Main St., will remain open, but limited to “only roles that are critical to data center operations,” the letter said. About two dozen workers are employed there.
Denver-area customer service representatives who deal directly with local clients will be retained at the firm, which manages $1.3 trillion in assets on behalf of 4.7 million individuals and more than 12,000 institutional clients, mostly universities and nonprofits.
The Jacksonville office primarily supported TIAA Bank, which TIAA sold in 2023, and the closure there is tied to the expiration of the building lease next summer. But Denver is a different story. In 2016, TIAA expanded its space in Denver to accommodate new hires, beyond the 1,400 it had at the time, and called the city “critical” to its growth plans.
Located in the former Amoco building, TIAA was so dominant at 1670 Broadway that the location became known as the TIAA building. The Denver lease wasn’t set to expire until 2029.
In 2022, TIAA said it was building an office tower in a booming stretch of Frisco, Texas, with the assistance of $18 million in incentives from the state.
“We believe Frisco is the right market to invest in and grow in. Closing the (Denver) office in 2026, instead of when the lease ends in 2029, will provide substantial savings in rent and operational costs – savings which TIAA can then invest in business needs that align with our strategy, make us more competitive and serve the best interests of clients,” Borelli and Ferguson said.
Among the benefits they cited in focusing on Frisco were lower costs, creating a stronger workplace culture and leveraging a “strong and broad talent pool in a geographic area that is growing and thriving.”
TIAA will maintain its corporate centers in New York, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., with Frisco essentially replacing Denver.
Borelli and Ferguson told employees that the Frisco area is establishing itself as a hub for the financial services industry and tech companies, and outscored all other areas for available talent, quality of life, population diversity and economic incentives.
TIAA is a majority investor in and asset manager of the Frisco tower that it co-developed with Nuveen Real Estate. The campus will be “state-of-the-art” and supportive of the company’s net-zero carbon emissions goals.
This story was originally published by The Denver Post, a BusinessDen news partner.
Read more: Downtown tower loan in special servicing following default
The 1670 Broadway tower as seen from 17th Street on Nov. 21, 2023. (BusinessDen file)
TIAA, one of the nation’s largest financial firms, informed its employees Tuesday morning that it is closing its Denver operations center over the next two years, putting about 1,000 jobs at risk.
“We are confident that these decisions are right for the future of TIAA. Our goal is to ensure that our locations best serve our clients, provides strong real estate investments, are cost-efficient, and inspire associates to do their best work,” TIAA’s Chief People Officer Claire Borelli and Chief Administrative Officer Derek Ferguson informed employees in a letter.
TIAA will close its Jacksonville, Fla., office in July 2025 and its Denver center, 1670 Broadway, in July 2026. A data center in Broomfield, 11525 Main St., will remain open, but limited to “only roles that are critical to data center operations,” the letter said. About two dozen workers are employed there.
Denver-area customer service representatives who deal directly with local clients will be retained at the firm, which manages $1.3 trillion in assets on behalf of 4.7 million individuals and more than 12,000 institutional clients, mostly universities and nonprofits.
The Jacksonville office primarily supported TIAA Bank, which TIAA sold in 2023, and the closure there is tied to the expiration of the building lease next summer. But Denver is a different story. In 2016, TIAA expanded its space in Denver to accommodate new hires, beyond the 1,400 it had at the time, and called the city “critical” to its growth plans.
Located in the former Amoco building, TIAA was so dominant at 1670 Broadway that the location became known as the TIAA building. The Denver lease wasn’t set to expire until 2029.
In 2022, TIAA said it was building an office tower in a booming stretch of Frisco, Texas, with the assistance of $18 million in incentives from the state.
“We believe Frisco is the right market to invest in and grow in. Closing the (Denver) office in 2026, instead of when the lease ends in 2029, will provide substantial savings in rent and operational costs – savings which TIAA can then invest in business needs that align with our strategy, make us more competitive and serve the best interests of clients,” Borelli and Ferguson said.
Among the benefits they cited in focusing on Frisco were lower costs, creating a stronger workplace culture and leveraging a “strong and broad talent pool in a geographic area that is growing and thriving.”
TIAA will maintain its corporate centers in New York, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., with Frisco essentially replacing Denver.
Borelli and Ferguson told employees that the Frisco area is establishing itself as a hub for the financial services industry and tech companies, and outscored all other areas for available talent, quality of life, population diversity and economic incentives.
TIAA is a majority investor in and asset manager of the Frisco tower that it co-developed with Nuveen Real Estate. The campus will be “state-of-the-art” and supportive of the company’s net-zero carbon emissions goals.
This story was originally published by The Denver Post, a BusinessDen news partner.
Read more: Downtown tower loan in special servicing following default
