Tech biggies adjust to high-rise life in Bellevue

When Microsoft announced in 2006 that its marketing operations would move into high-rise Lincoln Square in downtown Bellevue, some company managers weren't exactly enthusiastic.

They were comfortable on their mid-rise, suburban Redmond campus, so the move was a cultural shift of sorts and required some selling in-house, said Microsoft's Puget Sound real-estate manager.

But now, as Microsoft prepares to move another 4,600 employees into two more downtown Bellevue towers next year, that resistance has all but evaporated, Lindsay Pomeroy told a meeting of the Bellevue Downtown Association this past week.

Business units are jousting over which ones get to move into the 1.3 million square feet Microsoft has leased in the Bravern and City Center Plaza, Pomeroy said.

They're sold on Bellevue's urban amenities, such as hotels, restaurants and transit, he said. Lincoln Square has become a popular meeting place — the meeting rooms are oversubscribed.

But downtown parking remains a challenging issue for a company whose employees are used to driving right up to their office doors.

"These young Microsoft engineers, they're all spoiled," Pomeroy said with a smile.

The audience also heard from Rob Greyber of online travel company Expedia, which has nearly finished moving 1,700 of its employees into its new downtown Bellevue headquarters.

The Expedia Building has a travel/geography theme, he said: Expedia's reception area, on the 11th floor, is the equator.

Rooms on floors above and below bear the names of cities that correspond roughly to their latitudes in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

The cafeteria is on the third floor. It's called the Sandwich Islands, Greyber said to muffled groans from the group.

— Eric Pryne

Bill collector chases

Chinese airline

with Seattle ties

Hainan Airlines launched its first North American route in June with a Seattle-Beijing flight, but a legal dispute on the other side of the country may get in the way of its expansion plans.

Attorneys for Dornier Aviation, a now-bankrupt company that supplied parts and services to Hainan, sued the airline in 2003 for failing to pay what it owed.

After a five-year court battle, Dornier's bankruptcy trustee last summer won a $14 million judgment in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia.

H. Jason Gold, attorney for Dornier, said he has begun seizing Hainan's assets, and he has garnished the first of several bank accounts belonging to the airline. Gold said he is also going after whatever assets Hainan may have in Washington state, and proceedings have begun in King County Superior Court.

"There are commercial disputes all the time between companies, but normally once it's resolved, if company A wins, company B pays because they want to continue to do business," he said.

A Hainan official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the matter is "being dealt with at the highest levels."

A U.S. lawyer representing the airline did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.

Hainan Airlines, China's fourth-largest carrier, reported sales of $1.9 billion in 2007 and $91 million in profit.

In earlier documents, Hainan cited delivery delays and parts failures as reasons why it stopped paying Dornier.

Last month, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, raising concerns about Hainan's proposed new Boston-Beijing route in light of the bankruptcy judgment.

"Access to the U.S. marketplace is a privilege that should be earned by principled corporations which respect the rule of law," he wrote.

— Kristi Heim

Hybrids highlighted

at 2 rental-car lots

When in Seattle, do as Seattleites do, or at least purport to do: Drive green.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car said this past week that two of its Seattle rental locations will specialize in hybrid cars, due to high demand for the vehicles. Green-minded travelers will be able to choose vehicles ranging from the best-selling Toyota Prius to a hybrid version of the Ford Escape, starting at $51 per day.

The two rental sites are at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at the company's Westlake Avenue location near downtown Seattle.

Enterprise is making a national push to add about 5,000 hybrid vehicles to its fleet — more than twice the number it currently owns. The company will have 80 of what it's calling "hybrid branches" across the United States. The move underscores how all sectors of the automotive industry have awakened to hybrid vehicles' increasing popularity — a phenomenon driven by in part by several years of rising high gas prices. Increased concern about global warming has also pushed automakers and rental agencies to embrace the environmental trend.

Enterprise, National and Alamo, for example, all offer carbon offsets, voluntary contributions to projects that offset the emissions that result from driving.

But the cost of gasoline has dropped significantly in recent months, prompting the question: Will consumers again yearn for rental Hummers?

— Ángel González

Comments? Send them to Rami Grunbaum: rgrunbaum@-

seattletimes.com or 206-464-8541