Coldwell Banker Unit Will Move Corporate Staff East

Coldwell Banker Relocation Services, the only remaining Coldwell Banker business unit headquartered in Mission Viejo, is moving its corporate staff back East, probably to Connecticut, where parent HFS Inc. has a group of similar operations. As part of this restructuring, 20 local positions will be moved or eliminated, while 180 regional positions will remain, company officials say.

Stephen C. Roney, 46, president and chief executive officer of the relocation services firm, will step down effective June 30. Roney, a 10-year veteran of the company, said Tuesday that he decided to retire to “get out of the grind and spend more time with my family.�

The Irvine resident will serve as a consultant to the unit, which helps companies find new housing for relocating employees. Roney will continue to serve on several local boards, including UC Irvine’s Graduate School of Management.

The Coldwell unit, which is being consolidated with the relocation operations of HFS’ other residential real estate companies, including PHH Relocation and Century 21’s Worldwide Management, will be renamed HFS Mobility Services Inc. The combined operation will be headed by PHH executive Kevin Kelleher.

With the move, Coldwell Banker’s corporate campus in Mission Viejo will become a regional office. The other two business units of Coldwell Banker, which was acquired last May by Parsippany, N.J.-based HFS, also will make their homes in the East. The residential franchise group moved to Parsippany last year and National Realty Trust, the group that runs Coldwell Banker’s company-owned real estate offices, will be transferred in June.

All of these moves have meant fewer local jobs, but Coldwell Banker officials say that the Mission Viejo facility is no ghost town. It still employs 350 to 400 people.

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Melinda Fulmer covers real estate for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7832 and at [email protected]