Southwest 492,000-SF expansion not peanuts

DALLAS – Southwest Airlines Co. has broken ground on a new 492,000-sf building, dubbed Headquarters West at 2432 Wyman St. near a DART light-rail station.

Construction costs are estimated at $84.5 million, according to public filings. The building will be completed in late 2013 and occupied in 2014.

The new building will house Southwest’s crew scheduling, operations coordination center and maintenance operations, along with other functions. Included in the building will be two “hardened” floors built to withstand a tornado rated F3.

Southwest’s headquarters, which sits along the west side of Dallas Love Field, now includes a main building of 253,695 sf that opened in 1990, a 332,655-sf expansion that opened in 1997 and a 242,820-sf section that opened in 2004.

When Southwest moved into its current headquarters building in 1990, Southwest employed fewer than 9,000 people nationwide. As of June 30, 2012 the airline had 46,128 employees.