Broward commissioners explore turning Spirit’s Dania Beach HQ into county hub

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In a unanimous vote, Broward County commissioners decided to explore the option of purchasing the newly-available Spirit Airlines headquarters in Dania Beach, which could serve as the new Broward County Governmental Center.

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“We gave our attorney $25,000 to spend to seek additional outside counsel expertise,” said Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen.

That money was approved for outside legal counsel to determine whether purchasing the building is feasible or even possible.

This decision comes after the major airline went bankrupt and shut down.

“Anything in bankruptcy, you’ve got to go through bankruptcy court,” said Bogen. “It takes a while, but it is worth it if we can save hundreds of millions of dollars.”

While plans are already in the works to move out of the current building ― that county commissioners say is outdated ― and construct a new 14-story government center, it won’t be cheap.

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The price tag is upwards of $663 million, and that doesn’t include a proposed childcare center, which would raise the estimated cost by $15.4 million.

“It is not easy buying a building out of bankruptcy, it is not easy dealing with that, but it’s also not easy building a building from scratch, or else we would’ve done it,” said Broward Commissioner Michael Udine. “I just think we owe it to taxpayers to look at these opportunities.”

To construct the new building would take an estimated two years for design and permitting and another three years for construction.

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