Spirit Air Plans New $250 Million Headquarters in South Florida

(Bloomberg) -- Spirit Airlines Inc. will build a new South Florida headquarters that will cost $250 million over three years.

The new office campus of as much as 500,000 square feet will consolidate more than 1,200 employees, Spirit said Thursday in a statement. The project is scheduled to open in 2022 in Dania Beach, Florida, just south of the carrier’s largest operational base at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Spirit said it will add about 225 employees when the new office space opens. The headquarters will improve efficiency while supporting the airline’s “ever-expanding international operation,” Chief Executive Officer Ted Christie said in the statement. About 1,000 local employees currently work in a cluster of office buildings in Miramar, Florida, farther from the airport.

“This move will create cost savings compared to what we pay in rent for our current facilities and for hotel rooms used for crew training,” Christie said in a subsequent email. “Not only is this a good decision for our future growth, it alleviates some of the risk moving forward associated with retention, recruiting and future space needs.”

Spirit shares rose 2% to $36.77 at the close in New York. The shares have declined 37% this year, in part because of higher-than-expected operating costs. That was the biggest drop among U.S. airlines with a market value of at least $1 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Bachman in Dallas at jbachman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.