As Boeing expands in Oklahoma City, construction is beginning on a second facility the company will lease to take on the work.

A six-story, 320,000 square-foot building will be designed and built by Gardner Tanenbaum Group, an Oklahoma City commercial real estate company. The building is expected to open in the second quarter of 2012

The move is needed as Boeing moves the B-1 program and C-130 avionics modernization program to Oklahoma City from Long Beach, Calif., the company said.

Boeing’s Oklahoma City operations include two divisions, maintenance, modifications and upgrades and defense and government services. Work at the site includes engineering, contractor logistics services and field support.

Boeing employs 945 people in Oklahoma, including 745 in Oklahoma City. It will have nearly 1,500 employees in the state when the transition of the projects are complete, it said.

By Molly McMillin