4,500 more commuters expected with Expedia’s move from Bellevue to Seattle

Expedia and the city of Seattle promise to help what will be about 4,500 Expedia employees making the move to the Interbay neighborhood in three years.

Alongside Mark Okerstrom, Expedia’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations, Mayor Ed Murray announced Thursday that the travel company is moving from Bellevue to the former Amgen Helix Campus.

“The firm needs room to grow and they found a perfect site,” Murray said, adding that he was an early adopter of the do-it-yourself travel agency. “We’re very, very excited to welcome you and your employees to Seattle.”

Okerstrom said they’ll move the whole headquarters over by the end of 2018 and build another 200,000 square feet of office space to accommodate employees.

“Bellevue has been a great home for us and it was a tough decision to leave, but the opportunity to own an iconic waterfront headquarters was too good to pass up,” said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “We think it’ll be a magnet for top talent.

Currently, the company employs about 3,000 people in Bellevue, but plans on hiring another 1,500 in the next couple of years. Most of those current employees, 75 percent, live on the Eastside, according to GeekWire.

It remains unclear how the region’s infrastructure will handle 4,500 more commuters coming in from across Lake Washington, but Okerstrom said it’s one of the company’s top priorities.

“We’re going to be working with our employees. It’s a young employee base – very eco-friendly. We’re going to create many, many incentives to use public transit as much as possible,” he said. “We’re aware that some of our employees’ commutes are going to get longer. We want to make sure that we don’t cause traffic congestion, etc.”

Mayor Murray echoed that sentiment when asked how the city will deal with more cars moving through downtown to get to Elliott Ave. on the waterfront.

“We’re absolutely committed, going forward, to making this site work with our other sites as far as the goal of folks commuting in other than single-occupancy vehicles,” he said. “The city core has been pretty successful. We have one of the highest bike and pedestrian use going back and forth to work.”

Murray said part of the agreement is Expedia will fully subsidize Orca passes for its employees and offer incentives for walking, busing, biking and carpooling. The company will also offer shuttle services and cap the number of parking spaces.

The mayor said there are plans, funded by the passing of Prop. 1, to increase and improve bus service along the Elliott Ave. corridor.

“That type of thing coming online as folks are coming here is pretty great,” Murray said. “Obviously, Sound Transit 3, which is still in our future should the Legislature give us the authority, is an opportunity for us to grow up the west side of this city as well.”