Google leases more space in Seattle

Google may be planning to boost its presence in Seattle after leasing a new building in the city.

The search giant has leased 60,000 square feet of a building in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood from Getty Images, a company that sells digital photographs, according to a Getty Securities and Exchange Commission filing made on Friday.

Google has had an engineering office in Kirkland, Washington, a Seattle suburb, for two years. "In the next couple of years, we expect to grow substantially and continue to invest in the Pacific Northwest," Scott Silver, technical manager for Google's Website Optimizer, said in a recent interview. At the time, he wouldn't say how much the company planned to increase its presence in the region. Google already has a "few hundred" engineers in Kirkland, he said.

In addition to Website Optimizer, Google engineers in Kirkland have worked on Google Talk, Google Maps, and Google Video. They also do a lot of work on advertising optimization, Silver said.

The newly leased building is close to downtown Seattle and near an existing Google sales office.

Google will compete with Microsoft, which employs more than 35,000 people in the Seattle region, to hire workers.

"The two companies have been and will continue to compete for talent, regardless of where they're located," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

Local analysts disagree on whether Google specifically decided to open operations in Seattle to poach Microsoft workers. Rosoff doubts it. "Google recruits from around the world, and if a Microsoft employee wanted to work at Google, I don't think location would be a huge part of the equation," he said.

Another analyst is convinced, however, that Google is trying to lure Microsoft workers. "Google hopes to harvest engineers not just from the Northwest, but specifically from Microsoft, by setting up shop here," said Mark Anderson, a Seattle area analyst who runs the Strategic News Service.

Google's Web site currently lists 19 openings for engineers in Seattle/Kirkland.

Google did not reply to a request for comment about a Seattle expansion.