08:29 AM PDT on Friday, August 29, 2003

Associated Press

The cell phone provider T-Mobile is expected to announce it will open a call center in Redmond, creating as many as 750 jobs.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is scheduled to announce T-Mobile's commitment to open the center Friday, said Marian Hammond, spokeswoman for the governor. Other officials confirmed the expected announcement.

(Photo from T Mobile commercial)

There have already been several false starts. Planned announcements on Wednesday and Thursday in Portland ultimately were canceled.

T-Mobile expects to spend $9 million on its building in the Airport Business Center in Redmond. The news follows months of reports that the wireless service provider had narrowed its search to Redmond and the Boise, Idaho metro area.

The company filed a building permit plan application with the city of Redmond last month through its Kansas-based construction company, Key Construction. However, company officials had declined to say whether they had ruled out Boise as a location.

T-Mobile's United States press office in Bellevue, Wash., the company's American headquarters, did not return a phone message Thursday afternoon.

But the deal has now been finalized, said Jean Wood, a Redmond developer whose company, MHI, owned the land purchased by T-Mobile. "This is just a huge payoff for the city, for myself, for Roger Lee and the economic development folks who have worked so hard to make Redmond the business presence that we have hoped for," Wood said.

It's likely central Oregon will begin to feel the economic benefits quickly as construction is set to begin almost immediately.