The Chase Card Services call centre in Surrey will close next year, idling 675 employees, the company has announced.

It was six years ago when New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. announced it was moving its Chase Cardmember Services to North Surrey, taking over two floors in the recently constructed 25-storey tower at the Central City Shopping Centre.

The shutdown will mean the loss of 675 jobs.

A company statement released Thursday said Chase Card Services has decided to move the collections function within the Surrey operations site to its Frederick, Maryland location.

"Decisions that impact personnel are never easy," the statement said.

"This decision was made to consolidate work functions performed at various sites and ultimately increase our efficiency. We will work closely with these employees to provide them with the opportunity to post for other positions within the organization at our Surrey site."

Chase is leaving before their lease expires, said Roger Leggatt, of Cushman and Wakefield LePage, one of the parties in charge of leasing out the tower.

He said Chase occupied about 132,000 square feet of the building, taking up all of the fourth and fifth floors.

"That's a huge hole (to be filled)," Leggatt noted.

It's yet to be determined who will be responsible for paying the lease out or filling the space.

"They've got a lease in place, so they've got to figure out how to meet their obligations," Leggatt said. "It's common. The sublease market has been very vibrant since our (economic) downturn."

The arrival of Chase was hailed at the time as a major coup for both the city and the province.

Premier Gordon Campbell travelled to New York to lobby Chase.

In December of 2007, the Surrey call centre was awarded the 2007 British Columbia Contact Centre Association Community Service Award for its support of the United Way, Surrey Food Bank, public education and other programs.

Chase took over operating the Sears MasterCard and Sears Cards in Canada in 2005.

The company also operates a call centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

One of the Fortune 500, the company has assets of $1.3 trillion and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide.

dferguson@surreyleader.com

- with files from Kevin Diakiw