AirTouch Cellular Expands to Third Irvine Location : Communications: The company moves customer service headquarters to Park Place complex.

AirTouch Cellular has signed a five-year, $15-million lease to move its 650-person regional customer service headquarters to larger quarters here, marking its third location in the city.

In the second-largest office transaction this year in Orange County, the company selected the Park Place building, near Michelson Drive and Jamboree Road, because of its ability to accommodate future growth, said Melissa May, a spokeswoman for the parent company, AirTouch Communications Inc.

The company will utilize 190,000 square feet in the building, which is owned by Winthrop Management. Fluor Daniel Corp.’s world headquarters is also located there.

San-Francisco-based AirTouch has reported nearly a 40% gain in sales since last year. May said the new location will provide a more modern and spacious facility.

“The location has new technologies and a better environment, which will allow for a faster, more standardized service,” May said.

She said that the company’s marketing, finance, human resources and network departments will remain at the Park Plaza location at Jamboree Center, less than a mile away. The sales staff is housed in a building on Von Karman Avenue.

AirTouch employs 1,150 of its 1,340 employees in Irvine, up from 300 workers in the city in 1990.

The company now has 1.8 million cellular subscribers in the nation.

AirTouch Communication reported a profit of $98.1 million for all of its subsidiaries last year. The company’s net income was $39 million for the second quarter ending June 30, up from $33 million for the same quarter in 1994.