Budget air travel company Spirit Airlines has grounded its operations for good. That could leave its recently developed South Florida headquarters vacant and up for grabs.
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Spirit shut down this weekend, sending passengers and other airlines scrambling to deal with the fallout of the abrupt collapse.
The budget airline has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for most of the past 18 months after multiple failed merger attempts and years of losses. It secured a deal in March to emerge as a slimmer, restructured company, but rising jet fuel prices torpedoed the deal.
President Donald Trump floated a $500M government bailout for the airline, but that deal fell through this week after disagreements between the government and bondholders, leaving the company to prepare to cease operations, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A Spirit Airlines spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company, founded in 1992, opened a $275M headquarters campus at 1731 Radiant Drive in Dania Beach just seven months before first filing for bankruptcy.
The company purchased the site in 2019 for $32M, according to the Broward County property appraiser, and named it Spirit Central. It includes four buildings, the largest being the 180K SF main headquarters.
It includes office space for more than 1,000 employees across six floors, an amenity building with a café, gym and lounge spaces, an in-flight and flight operations training facility, and corporate housing for up to 400 visiting workers.
In the company's bankruptcy filings, Spirit lists the value of the land at $33M and the buildings at $228M. The office, including the land and building, is valued at $133M, according to the Broward County property appraiser.
If Spirit liquidates, the property would hit the market as demand for office space in Broward County is weakening.
In the first quarter, companies emptied 162K SF more office space than they moved into, according to Newmark. Leasing activity fell 19.5% quarter-over-quarter and was more than 20% below the first-quarter average over the last 16 years.
"Older suburban campuses without a real story have been on the wrong side of that trade for several years now, and Spirit’s situation will only sharpen that contrast," Fort Lauderdale-based Native Realty Co. founder and CEO Jaime Sturgis said in a text message Friday.
Broward County's office market stands in stark contrast to its neighbors.
Miami-Dade County is seeing businesses that recently moved to the city start to expand and has a renewed gravity for headquarters relocations as CEOs establish roots in the city to escape unfriendly business environments.
In Palm Beach County, billionaire and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is leading the push to turn the region into the "Wall Street of the South" with a $10B backing, luring tech firms and finance giants to open outposts.
"Every cycle has its dislocations, and every dislocation creates a buying opportunity," Sturgis said. "If Spirit’s campus comes back to the market, it will trade — Dania Pointe is one of the most amenitized mixed-use environments in Broward, sitting between [Fort Lauderdale Airport] and Port Everglades. The right buyer with a creative plan will do very well on it."
UPDATE, MAY 3, 9:25 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to reflect Spirit Airlines' shutdown.
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