Citigroup cuts 160 jobs in Las Vegas

Citigroup Inc. is eliminating the last 220 jobs at its sprawling campus at The Lakes in western Las Vegas, a spokeswoman for the financial services firm confirmed Tuesday.

Citigroup, which operates 15 Citibank branches in Southern Nevada, said the remaining jobs at 8725 W. Sahara Ave. would either be eliminated by October or would transition to work-from-home positions.

About 60 employees will work from home, Citi spokeswoman Janis Tarter said.

“This decision, while difficult, is related to our ongoing efforts to increase operational efficiency and service levels while adapting to changes in the marketplace,” Tarter said in an email.

It is the latest wave of layoffs by Citigroup at its Lakes location. In September, the company announced it would eliminate 760 jobs in its mortgage unit, with work ending for most on Dec. 20, and the remainder of the positions eliminated in March.

Citigroup consolidated its charter in July 2011, a move that saw more than $140 million in deposits and 75 credit card jobs migrate to Sioux Falls, S.D.

“We’re encouraging the employees who are affected by this announcement to consider open positions within … Citi and we are helping to facilitate that,” Tater said. “Eligible employees who are not able to secure other employment within the company will be provided severance based on their length of service … and other support services.”

Tater said none of the Citibank branches in the region are affected by the layoffs.

Citicards, a subsidiary of Citibank, located its main payment processing center inside 300,000 square feet of office space at The Lakes in 1990. After 24 years of hosting mainly one corporate tenant, the campus is drawing attention.

“We have a client that is interest in a good portion of it,” said Brad Peterson, senior vice president with CBRE in Las Vegas. “There have been a lot of users who have gone through that property.

Peterson declined to identify his client. He said its interest in leasing about 100,000 square feet of the soon-to-be former Citigroup campus.

“There is a silver lining,” Peterson said. “We don’t have a lot of contiguous large blocks of office space for lease. What happens is we cannot attract out-of-state companies to come to Las Vegas. We need this space.”

Bob Hawkins, an associate with Cushman &Wakefield in Las Vegas, represents the property but declined to comment. According to the real estate website loopnet.com, the sublease of an 18,000-square-foot office building is listed at $1.45 a square foot or $26,100 a month.

“We are seeing an uptick in interest in large users looking at Las Vegas,” Peterson said.

The 2-square-mile Lakes community consists of a mixture of single-family homes, apartments, condominiums, commercial and office space.

The community is bounded by Desert Inn Road to the south, Sahara Avenue to the north, Durango Drive to the east and Hualapai Way to the west.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.