Delta to close Northwest HQ building

As some Northwest Airlines workers move to Atlanta and others take buyouts, merger partner Delta Air Lines is closing a main building at Northwest’s headquarters in Eagan, Minn.

Remaining employees at that location, called Building A, will move to Building C in Minneapolis, which Delta is renovating and will make its northern headquarters.

“The cost of continuing to operate Building A with its declining employee base does not make sense in this economic environment,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s president, in a memo to employees at the campus in Minnesota.

Delta told the city of Eagan it plans to put the building up for sale, according to Eagan city administrator Tom Hedges. The building has a tax value of about $13.7 million. Other options may include renting out the building.

In addition to being the surviving brand in the merger, Delta is maintaining its Atlanta headquarters. But it is also keeping Minnesota pilot and flight attendant bases, reservations centers, a pilot training center, a technology center. Its Delta Connection subsidiary overseeing its regional carriers will also be based in Minnesota. The airline reached an agreement in January with the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minnesota to keep 10,000 jobs in that state.

Delta is moving Northwest’s systems operations control employees to its Atlanta operations center in October.