Century 21 Sees Reorganization, Massive Layoffs : Real estate: Majority of the firm’s 150 Irvine workers don’t know if they’ll be moved with headquarters to N.J. or fired.

As expected, the new owner of Century 21 Real Estate Corp. has initiated sweeping layoffs and reorganized management at the giant real estate brokerage as it prepares to move the home-grown Orange County firm to New Jersey.

Hospitality Franchise Systems Inc., the world’s largest hotel franchiser, bought the residential real estate brokerage firm for $200 million in cash and stock from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. earlier this year. It later announced plans to move Century 21, founded by two Santa Ana brokers 24 years ago, and restructure the company.

In the past two months, the Parsippany, N.J., hotelier has begun to let go of half of the company’s 800 workers nationwide and to carry out plans to reduce national Century 21 divisions from seven to four. HFS is closing offices in Walnut Creek, Chicago, and Dallas, said Henry Silverman, HFS chief executive.

The cuts--many designed to eliminate duplicate positions, such as lawyers and accountants, that HFS already has in New Jersey--will save $35 million, Silverman said.

“We’re downsizing the work force by 50% but this is a gradual process,” Silverman said. “This is a long-term process. This is not like a plant closing.

“By the end of the year, we’ll be virtually out of Orange County,” he added.

Century 21 has about 150 workers at its corporate headquarters in Irvine. “The majority of workers here in Irvine still don’t know their fate, whether they will be terminated or whether they will have an opportunity to transfer,” said Susan Pretkus-Combs, Century 21 spokeswoman.

Other layoffs are being made in 40 Century 21 regional offices throughout the nation, and directors in many of those offices will begin working out of their homes to cut costs, Pretkus-Combs said.

“Hopefully, when we’re done, we’ll have a company more nimble and more responsive to the needs of our franchise brokers,” Silverman said.

Century 21 has more than 6,000 franchises, and brokers at those offices are not affected by the cutbacks, he said.

Officials at other major real estate brokerages see Century 21 cutbacks as an opportunity to hire.

Chandler Barton, president and chief executive of Mission Viejo-based Coldwell Banker Corp., which has 2,400 offices worldwide, said his company has interviewed a number of Century 21 workers and is finalizing plans to hire some of them.

“We’re delighted. This is a good opportunity for us to hire some very good people,” he said.