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Microsoft plans huge new office complex
Wednesday, October 4, 2000
By LEWIS KAMB
ISSAQUAH -- Microsoft Corp. executives unveiled plans last night for an expansive new office complex they intend to build here -- a set of buildings across 800,000 square feet that may mark the beginning of a new corporate campus that could one day rival the company's Redmond headquarters.
At a meeting before the city's Urban Village Development Commission, Microsoft real estate planners detailed a proposal for the complex as part of the Issaquah Highlands development, a sprawling master-planned community now under construction on the Sammamish Plateau north of Interstate 90.
Microsoft has the option to buy 150 acres and build out 2.95 million square feet of property within Issaquah Highlands.
But as of yesterday, officials for the software giant were focusing on only 44 acres -- enough property to hold a proposed office project that officials say will soon be needed to accommodate company growth.
On its own, the proposed complex is no pipsqueak, however. In size, it is roughly equal to the company's Sammamish Office Park complex, also located in Issaquah off East Lake Sammamish Parkway.
When built, it will serve as workplace for 2,000 to 4,000 workers -- about the same as the Sammamish complex.
But company officials are not hedging that the initial complex may be only the beginning of a development that could produce a new corporate campus where 12,000 or more workers would be based.
"It's not something you take on all at once," said Len Psyk, real estate and development manager for Microsoft.
Psyk added that the company will "phase in development" of the remainder of the property only when company growth demands it.
If and when Microsoft builds out the entire property, the new campus "would be about equal in size to our Redmond campus," Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla said.
The company's main campus in Redmond now covers about 265 acres, with 3.84 million square feet of office space.
If Microsoft were to exercise and build out all its purchasing options at Issaquah Highlands, its new campus would comprise nearly all the proposed office space within the development.
But it would make up only about 18 percent of Issaquah Highlands' total developed property, Psyk said.
Planned over the course of four years by Issaquah-based Port Blakely Communities, the two-phase, multiyear Issaquah Highlands development is slated to build 3,200 residential units clustered in small lots over roughly 2,200 wooded acres.
About 1,400 acres of the project will remain open space.
Project officials envision an "urban village" concept for the development, calling it "a live, work and play community" with pedestrian-friendly streets and walkways intermingled with homes, offices and parks.
Unlike traditional, large-scale suburban developments of years past, "an urban village really fosters a sense of community," said Lucy Sloman, a project consultant.
In addition to the likely new corporate campus for Microsoft, the project will add a new school and commercial and retail space, on the assumption that families will work, shop and live within the community.
A Town Center shopping complex, similar to that in Redmond, is also planned.
With Phase I already under way, about 450 residential units have been built.
Patrick Gordon, principal architect for Microsoft's office project, said the company is committed to "creating a coherent and memorable place."
Diversified architectural styles will meld "with a distinct character that's unique to Issaquah Highlands, to Microsoft and to the region," Gordon said.
To help accommodate growing traffic and populations brought by the development, a new I-90 interchange is expected to be completed by fall 2002.
The Sunset Interchange, in conjunction with the planned Sammamish Plateau Access Road -- a bypass route for traffic heading between the highway and plateau -- is meant to alleviate projected traffic in the area.
Microsoft has contributed heavily to help finance the interchange and bypass projects, and has helped plan the development's infrastructure.
The company also plans to carry over to Issaquah its award-winning transit, car-pool and commuter programs to further ease traffic, said Bob Kaplan, Microsoft's shuttle and transit program manager.
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