Microsoft setting up new office sites in Seattle

Microsoft will have nearly 1,400 employees in Seattle as it expands its office space in the city.

The Redmond-based software giant confirmed this morning that it will lease about 126,000 square feet in the Westlake/Terry Building in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

About 400 Microsoft employees, including the company's online services business, will move into the building in March 2008. It will also provide office space for up to 150 Microsoft employees who want to avoid rush-hour commutes to Redmond.

Microsoft announced two other new work locations in the city: 111 S. Jackson in Pioneer Square and 505 Union Station, the headquarters of Vulcan, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's development company.

Microsoft's Seattle-based employees also include more than 600 employees of aQuantive, the digital-advertising company recently purchased by Microsoft.

Microsoft also announced today a free bus service that will take employees to Redmond from Seattle, Issaquah, Mill Creek, Sammamish and Bothell. The Wi-Fi-enabled buses will carry up to 1,000 employees each day beginning Sept. 24.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com