Microsoft gobbles up office space in Bellevue

Finding itself without sufficient elbow room in Redmond, Microsoft said on Thursday that it has leased 1.3 million square feet of office space in two high-rise complexes under construction in nearby Bellevue, Wash.

The new space could eventually house 4,000 workers, though Microsoft isn't saying which parts of the company will be housed in the two projects. Microsoft will move into one of the buildings late this year and into next year, while it won't start filling the other until late 2008.

Although it is branching beyond Redmond, Microsoft is also working to expand its main campus by more than a third, under a plan announced last year.

"Microsoft continues to grow at a rapid pace across all our businesses--software, games, entertainment, search, mobile and business applications," Chris Owens, general manager of real estate and facilities at Microsoft, said in a statement. "Adding additional work space in Puget Sound, the company's center of gravity, helps address our current space limitations and ensures that we are prepared for future growth."

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has some more info on its Microsoft blog.