Sabre Agrees to $80 Million Sale Leaseback of HQ near Dallas

Star-Telegram - September 9, 2006

Sabre Holdings, parent company of the Travelocity online travel service, is selling one of its Southlake headquarters buildings and leasing back the space to reduce overhead costs.

"Plain and simple, it's a smart cost-savings measure," said Michael Berman, Sabre spokesman.

Maguire Partners, developer of the Solana office park, site of the headquarters, agreed Thursday to buy the building in an $80 million deal, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sabre will consolidate its 3,200 employees, who now work on both sides of Texas 114 in the multicolored Solana development, into two buildings they occupy north of the highway. Sabre will have a five-year lease from Maguire Partners on the 375,000-square-foot space, designed by Solana architect Ricardo Legorreta.

Also included in the deal are 120 undeveloped acres, said Tom Allen, a Maguire partner. The real-estate developer sold the land to Sabre in 1999, he said. Maguire plans a mixed-use development on the land and nearby property.

The deal will save Sabre $10 million a year starting in 2008, Berman said. It's part of the company's plan to cut overhead, Berman said. The deal does not indicate that the company is in financial trouble or considering layoffs, he said.

Part of the savings will come from moving employees from 170,000 square feet the company leases in the Westlake portion of the office park. Sabre is looking at how to consolidate all of the employees into the Southlake buildings when the lease on the Westlake space is up in 2008, Berman said. Sphere: Related Content