DANIA BEACH, FL — Spirit Airlines, the Florida-based discount air carrier broke ground Thursday on a $250 million headquarters building and business campus near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
With up to 500,000 square feet of planned space, there should be plenty of legroom for some 1,000 airline employees, who are expected to move into the new digs sometime in 2022 from the company’s existing headquarters in Miramar, Florida.
“This is a tremendous amount of work that came to get us to where we are today,” Spirit President and Chief Executive Officer Ted Christie III said at Thursday’s groundbreaking. “I couldn’t be happier to be here to welcome the future home of Spirit Airlines, Florida’s hometown airline right here in Dania Pointe.”
The airline plans to add 225 additional jobs over the next five years and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Spirit is already the seventh-largest carrier in the United States.
“They’re doing almost 700 flights a day to 75 different destinations in 16 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean,” DeSantis noted at the ceremony. “We have about 360 Spirit flights that touch Florida every day.”
In addition to corporate offices, the new complex will include a crew training facility with flight simulators and a corporate training residence near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which represents the company’s largest operating base.
Spirit purchased the land from Kimco Realty, which is the owner and principal developer of Dania Pointe. Gensler will be the architectural firm and Jones Lang LaSalle will be the project adviser.
Spirit estimates the total capital outlay for the project will be about $250 million over the next 36 months.
“Spirit Airlines is a major job creator for our state, and we are excited that they have chosen to expand their Florida footprint with this new corporate campus,” DeSantis added. “Today’s groundbreaking is just another indication that Florida remains the best state in the nation to start or grow a business.”
