New Redmond facilities will house 4,000 workers Microsoft plans to announce on Thursday that it has leased an additional two buildings near its Redmond, Wash., campus that will house around 4,000 workers, according to a source familiar with the company’s plans.The company plans to host a media event on Thursday morning near the campus to announce the new space, said the source, who asked not to be identified.Microsoft is in the midst of major expansion of its Redmond campus. Early last year, the company announced it would spend $1 billion in a three-year plan that would grow the campus by one-third of its size. At the time, Microsoft said that expansion would include seven new buildings and seven that were purchased. Some of the new construction has been controversial with employees, who fear the potential loss of popular existing space, including a soccer field. One area of campus has already recently lost a large wooded area of tall evergreen trees that included walking paths well-used by employees to make space for a new building.As of the middle of last year, Microsoft employed more than 33,000 people in Washington state and used nearly 11 billion square feet of leased and owned space in the Puget Sound region.The area has proved fertile for Microsoft in attracting talent to fill its offices, but the software giant has new competition in the region: Google. The popular search company has over the past couple years opened two offices in the Seattle area. Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said he couldn’t share any information about a potential announcement. Technology Industry