The Chicago real-estate services firm, which said this week that it would buy The Staubach Co., is expected to create a behemoth that would compete for business with local affiliates of national rivals such as Grubb & Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International and CB Richard Ellis.

It may have also set the stage for a culture clash -- and a business opportunity.

During the next four or five months, Staubach will move out of its offices at Highwoods Properties' GlenLake park off Edwards Mill Road. It will move into expanded Jones Lang offices at Lichtin Corp.'s Wade development in West Raleigh.

The companies will combine troops, creating a local office of about two dozen brokers and staff. No layoffs are expected locally.

And they'll combine books of business including local and global companies, all under the Jones Lang name.

"The goal of the whole merger, as we compete around the whole country, is that there will be a little bit more collaboration," says Austin Koon, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle's Raleigh office.

The scenario here is a little different from how the merger is playing out internationally. Jones Lang is the world's second-largest commercial real estate brokerage. Buying Staubach helped it bolster its tenant-representation business.

Since 1977, Addison, Texas-based Staubach has represented at least 3,000 tenants including Cisco Systems, Barnes & Noble, Exxon Mobil and Target.

The business, founded by NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, has grown on a simple promise: to only represent users of office, industrial and retail space -- a strategy that builds trust with clients by avoiding potential conflicts of interest with landlords.

"The least amount of conflict in life, I think the better off you are," is how Staubach put it to me when we spoke last month.

That promise could change under Jones Lang, which has all kinds of services, including landlord representation and facility management. Don't be surprised to see Jones Lang compete for landlord business locally.

It may seem like a big shift, but changes at Staubach were evident last month. "If we could do an acquisition and something makes sense to make us stronger or better -- especially on the international platform -- we would sure look at it," Staubach said last month, when I asked about a possible Jones Lang deal.

And that is essentially what the sale does.

"Tenants are becoming more sophisticated in their needs in what they want," Koon explains. "You have to have a broader platform."

Staubach only has offices in the Americas. But what if a tenant wants to open an office in India?

Jones Lang has an office there. "You can call up and get a market report in a day," Koon says.

This global-business bit is an about-face from the pitch Koon was making a year ago, when he was a partner in Corporate Realty Advisors, a small Raleigh tenant rep that focused on smaller regional players.

But his change in perspective shows how quickly the tenant-rep landscape has shifted in the Triangle.

Staubach opened its first Triangle office in partnership with tenant-rep firm MetaPartners in 2003. Jones Lang entered the Triangle last year, purchasing Corporate Realty Advisors.

Now that they're gunning for the big clients together, others are hoping to fill that tenant-only void.

Rich Harris comes to mind. The former GVA Advantis broker founded Synergy Commercial Advisors this year with a familiar pitch: "We're a local boutique shop that's nimble, and we are quick to address the needs of our clients."