Hines Tower ( 333 ) Will probably not see Google any time soon as Expedia will be moving in.
Article from Seattle PI:Expedia is moving to downtown Bellevue.
The online travel agency on Wednesday said it will lease 16 floors, or 348,000 square feet of office space, at Tower 333.
Expedia spokeswoman Katie Deines said the company evaluated several options for its new headquarters, but decided to relocate to downtown Bellevue because it was convenient for employees and could accommodate its 1,700 workers in one building. The new site also is designed to handle future growth for the company, she said.
Expedia's staff is now located at the Sunset North campus in Bellevue, with workers spread among four buildings.
The Expedia lease at Tower 333 is "a big deal" for downtown Bellevue, said Tom Bohman, a senior director with real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.
"You just don't see deals of that size all that frequently," he said.
Still, downtown Bellevue has claimed a few whoppers in the past 13 months. Last year, Microsoft agreed to lease 15 floors of Lincoln Square in order to house its North American sales force. And then, just two months ago, the software giant inked a deal for 740,000 square feet at the Bravern complex near the Meydenbauer Convention Center.
Real estate watchers are growing accustomed to Microsoft gobbling up massive amounts of space on the Eastside, but having another high-tech company do the same in "one fell swoop is unusual," Bohman said.
With major corporations now claiming space in Lincoln Square, the Bravern and Tower 333, Bohman said that only the 572,000-square-foot City Center Plaza in downtown Bellevue remains without an anchor tenant.
"It is not like we are completely running dry, but it does certainly embolden the landlords out there now that you have seen three or four high-rises go by the wayside," he said.
Expedia is leasing floors three through 18 at Tower 333. The top two floors of the 20-story skyscraper, which is still under construction and slated to open later this year, are still available. The first two floors include the lobby and about 9,000 square feet of retail space, which also is available.
Located at the southwest corner of 108th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street, Tower 333 has attracted attention from some top-tier companies. One prospective tenant was Google, which was seriously looking at taking most of the space in the building last summer. The collapse of a construction crane at Tower 333 in November, which killed a man in a nearby building and delayed the project, may have caused Google to look elsewhere.
Kim Jagger, a spokeswoman for Hines, the Houston real estate developer that owns Tower 333, declined to comment on Google or other possible tenants that looked at the building. However, Jagger said there has been "fantastic interest" in the building and, most recently, in its top two floors.
Bohman said those floors most likely will command higher rates than what Expedia paid.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Expedia said that it will pay an initial rent of $25.85 per square foot per year with the rate increasing to $35.85 per square foot in the final year of the agreement.
As part of the agreement, Expedia has secured rights to name the new building, with Jagger saying that Expedia Tower is a possible option. Jagger said the building will retain the Tower 333 moniker until November 2008, at which time Expedia is expected to move in.
Deines declined to comment on the name of the building.
Expedia has called the Sunset North campus its home since January 2000, expanding at the office park along Interstate 90 as more space became available.
Brokers estimated that Expedia leases about 375,000 square feet at Sunset North. And while that is a big chunk of space, Bohman said it should not be that tough to lease since "it is a highly desirable corridor" with very little space available right now.
Because Expedia won't move into the new tower until November 2008, Bohman said that the office park would be desirable for large users interested in doing some long-range planning.
Bohman said the most likely tenant is T-Mobile USA, which operates its headquarters on the south side of I-90 in Factoria.
Another possible tenant is Microsoft, which in April signed a lease for 600,000 square feet at the Advanta project along I-90.
"Advanta is just up the street," Bohman said. "It wouldn't surprise me to see them look at it as well."
Sounds Great!!
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