Bellevue's T-Mobile campus is growing

While other companies are relinquishing office space, T-Mobile USA is expanding its headquarters in Bellevue's Factoria area.

The wireless communications giant's landlord at the Newport Corporate Center said Thursday that it will build a new, six-story building on the campus for T-Mobile. A smaller building now on the site will be razed, and the new 165,000-square-foot building should be ready for occupancy by late 2010.

"We are pleased to be able to continue expanding our operations in this vibrant part of the country," T-Mobile USA Vice President Mark Comstock said in a prepared statement.

More office space often means more employees, but T-Mobile had no comment on whether it intends to hire more people. About 3,500 work for the company in Factoria now.

When the new building is finished, T-Mobile will occupy about 1 million square feet in six buildings at the Newport Corporate Center, said Bentall Capital Vice President Lisa Rowe, who negotiated the deal.

Bentall advises and is partly owned by SITQ, the Canadian real-estate investment firm that owns the Factoria campus.

T-Mobile also has extended until 2015 its lease on 360,000 square feet at the corporate center, Bentall announced.

T-Mobile moved to Factoria about 10 years ago, when it was known as Western Wireless. It has since become a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, and is the nation's fourth-largest wireless company.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com