Urban Partnership Bank (UPB) is a full service community development bank with $1.4 billion in assets. It was established August 20, 2010, when it acquired the deposits and some of the assets of ShoreBank from the FDIC. The bank’s focus is to build vibrant urban neighborhoods and promote economic and environmental sustainability in distressed and underserved areas of Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit. Its customers range from individuals to small businesses, nonprofits, foundations, and faith-based organizations. The bank places a special emphasis on serving underbanked populations. Facility costs were running at $1.3 million per year but the effectiveness of those expenditures in operating the facilities was in question by senior management. The sites were being served by an outside maintenance company who was being nominally managed by underqualified in-house staff.

Solution
HSA was selected to perform the research and analysis to assist UPB in better understanding their facility spending pattern, identify immediate saving opportunities and develop a process for the efficient and cost effective management of their sites. Following the initial analysis, HSA was brought in to manage all facility issues including overseeing work requests, selecting and hiring vendors and serving the needs of bank site personnel.

Benefit
Within the first few months, HSA was able to reorganize facility management staffing, building engineering and nightly janitorial services which resulted in immediate savings of more than $175,000 for the bank. These savings were realized while increasing the satisfaction levels of branch staff with the cleaning and building operations at their facilities.