Safeco announced yesterday it will move its corporate headquarters and northwest regional office to two downtown Seattle sites.

The company said it has entered a lease for approximately 284,000 square feet at 1001 Fourth Avenue for its corporate headquarters and 140,000 square feet at Second and Seneca for the regional office.

Safeco will get full naming and signage rights for both buildings, which with Seattle's Safeco Field; will give the property-casualty insurer a strong identity in the city.

Once occupied, the new headquarters building will be renamed Safeco Plaza and will be home to as many as 1,100 Safeco employees, while the regional office will house 800 employees.

The company said in March it would sell the University District office tower it has occupied in Seattle for more than 30 years and move all employees into leased space, including those from the regional office, which will move from its current Redmond, Wash. campus location to downtown Seattle.

“Given the favorable lease rates and the near-term availability of office space, the economics and timing led us to the decision to relocate both our headquarters and regional office in downtown Seattle,” said Paula Rosput Reynolds, Safeco president and chief executive officer.

Safeco plans to move as many as 800 Redmond-based employees to the Second and Seneca location by December 2006.

The remaining Redmond employees will move to leased space in Bothell, Wash. and Seattle's University District by year-end.

Headquarters employees currently working in the Safeco Tower in the University District will begin moving to the 1001 Fourth Avenue location in 2007.

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Safeco Moves To Downtown Seattle

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