Crown Castle up in air on relocating Southpointe staff
Officials at Crown Castle Inc., the gargantuan cell tower and optics company with a substantial presence in Southpointe, plan to follow up on the restructuring model it implemented during the summer with a second cost-saving initiative.
The Houston, Texas-based company, which has about 100 offices nationwide, announced during an earnings call in July that the restructuring – completed recently – was intended “to simplify, streamline and centralize our business processes and operations.”
Phase II, so to speak, is about relocation. On that same conference call, President and CEO Jay A. Brown said the company “plans to relocate about 1,000 employee positions . . . to a centralized location by the end of the third quarter 2024.”
That would be about one-fourth of the company’s estimated workforce of 4,000 to one place.
The company, however, declined to elaborate on how the relocations may affect operations at Crown Castle’s two large buildings at Southpointe, which raises local concerns.
Crown Castle is the second-largest employer in Washington County, behind only Washington Health System. A specific number of employees could not be determined.
“We’re looking for ways to reduce costs and to run more efficiently,” Brown said during that conference call. “We want to have the ability to have consistent growth.”
He added that “the annual run rate savings from that restructuring plan are expected to be $105 million, comprised of $30 million of anticipated savings in 2023, $35 million of expected savings in 2024, and $40 million of expected savings included in the 2024 outlook for services margin.”
Crown Castle’s American portfolio is huge. The company has more than 40,000 cell towers, 85,000 route miles of fiber, and 120,000 small cells on the air or under contract.