A Boston-based hedge fund has emerged as the stalking horse bidder for defunct Spirit Airlines' 2-year-old headquarters.
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Boston-based Hill City Capital bid $88M in cash as the stalking horse bidder for the 8.3-acre complex in Dania Beach, Florida, according to bankruptcy filings.
Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy in late 2024 following years of losses, shut down in May in an abrupt move that left 17,000 employees jobless and its recently delivered, $275M headquarters at 1731 Radiant Drive up for grabs.
An auction for the site, named Spirit Central, was originally scheduled for July 22, but Spirit pushed the date back, first to Aug. 4 and now to Aug. 11.
As part of the deal, Hill City, which submitted the bid under affiliate DPC HoldCo LLC, would allow Spirit to occupy a small office in the building to finish winding down its operations until the end of October.
If Hill City is outbid, it would be entitled to a payment of 3% of the proposed purchase price and a reimbursement of expenses up to $500K.
Hill City didn't respond to a request for comment.
The bid is a significant discount from how much Spirit valued the property in its bankruptcy filings.
The airline listed the value of the land at $33M and the four buildings — the 180K SF, six-story office building that has space for more than 1,000 employees, an amenity building, an in-flight and flight operations training facility, and housing for up to 400 visiting workers — at $288M.
Before Hill City's entrance, Broward County commissioners considered bidding on the office to replace the county's current office in Fort Lauderdale, but that lost momentum after it became unclear if the county would be able to obtain the needed zoning changes to occupy the building.
While Hill City, led by Chief Investment Officer Chip Frazier, is from out of state, it is familiar with doing business in South Florida. The company, founded in 2019, focuses primarily on industrial aerospace and transportation.
Hill City Capital LP's largest holding is a $693M stake in Coral Gables-based infrastructure, construction and engineering company MasTec Inc., according to a first-quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hill City was also an investor alongside Apollo and J.F. Lehman & Co. in the all-cash purchase in 2022 of Atlas Air Worldwide, which was valued at $5.2B.
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