Spokane firm will lease to Google

Spokane-based SRM Development LLC said it’s signed a deal that lets tech-giant Google lease 195,000 square feet in Lakeview Plaza, a new 7-acre project in Kirkland.

Google, of Mountain View, Calif., already has a 30-person sales staff in Seattle along with a 400-person engineering office in Kirkland.

The new buildings in Kirkland also will be devoted to engineering, Google officials said in a Seattle-area newspaper.

SRM is a privately owned development-and-construction company with projects across the West. The Kirkland Lakeview Plaza project consists of three buildings at 747 Sixth St. near the city’s core.

SRM’s Andy Loos, the firm’s Puget Sound development director, said the project will be ready by second quarter 2008.

When SRM began work on the project in February, Loos said he had no idea who the tenant would be. He said market analysts predicted there would be a need for high quality technology office space, and that turned out to be accurate.

“We felt like the market was going our way for a large office campus,” said Loos in an interview.

Google spokesperson Sunny Gettinger told a Seattle business publication that her company continues looking at Seattle as a major source of technical skills and talent.

“Seattle is incredibly important because it’s rich in engineering talent. It’s important for people who want to live in the area to be able to work for Google,” she said.

SRM has additional offices in Seattle and San Diego. It’s owned by John Stone, James Rivard, Bryan Stone and Dee McGonigle. Among the company’s other projects is the 150-acre Riverstone Development in Coeur d’Alene.