Facebook is opening a new engineering office in Seattle, a move that the social networking powerhouse said would allow it to tap the region's "deep pool of technical talent." It marks the first engineering office for Facebook in the U.S. outside of the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

“We are looking to hire world-class software engineers to continue to build the best products to support our users, developers and advertisers,” said Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering for Facebook, in a statement. “Seattle has distinguished itself as a city with an extremely deep technical talent pool as well as a high quality of life, which makes it the ideal place for an engineering office.”

Facebook plans to open the new office in July, and it is actively seeking office space to accommodate about 30 workers. (I am sure every real estate broker in town is now on the case). It will be interesting to see if the company chooses the Eastside -- closer to its partner and investor Microsoft -- or Seattle -- home to Amazon.com and a number of smaller startups.

We're planning to talk to Schroepfer later this morning about the new office and we'll update TechFlash with more information when we have it.

TechCrunch reports that the new office will be led by Ari Steinberg. Even more interesting, the company is tapping former MySpace executive Hadi Partovi -- who just left the Facebook rival last month -- as an adviser. (We'll certainly be asking about non-compete issues when we talk to Schroepfer).

Interestingly, MySpace has its own engineering office in Seattle, and we've heard about some other departures at that office in recent days.

The news of Facebook's new office was applauded by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, which would lead one to believe that Facebook will likely locate their offices somewhere in the city rather than the suburbs.

“I am excited about Facebook’s decision to open a small office in Seattle,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “This move means new jobs for those in our software development community and is a strong testament to the talent in our region.”

UPDATED: U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell also has issued a statement welcoming Facebook to Seattle:

“This addition to our community reflects Seattle’s standing as one of our nation’s high-tech and software engineering hubs. Our deep talent pool, stemming from the outstanding engineering programs at University of Washington and other educational institutions, is the reason why these high-tech, high-wage jobs are coming to Washington. We hope and anticipate that this move marks a new round of high-tech job expansion. Seattle looks forward to being ‘friends’ with Facebook.”

RELATED: "Talent drain continues at MySpace as VP Nat Brown plans exit"

FOLLOW-UP: "Facebook exec to Seattle: Bring us your very best engineers"

RELATED: Ari Steinberg jokes in his blog post that he decided to set up an office in Seattle because he couldn't bear the idea of being 800 miles away from TechCrunch publisher Michael Arrington, who announced that he's moved to the Seattle area. "Facebook engineering seeks new friends in Seattle"