Amazon resumes construction on office tower in Seattle suburb after yearslong hiatus

Amazon
is
resuming
construction
on
a
42-story
office
tower
in
the
Seattle
suburb
of
Bellevue,
the
company

said
Thursday,
after
22
floors
of
the
building
sat
unfinished
since
2022.

The
company
in
2022
paused
work
on
five
towers
in
the
Bellevue
area,
along
with
new
offices
in
Virginia
and
Nashville,
citing
uncertainty
around
the
pandemic’s
impact
on
in-office
work.
At
the
time,
CEO
Andy
Jassy
said
Amazon
was
embracing
hybrid
and
remote
work.
Since
then,
the
company
has
required
its
employees
to
be
in
the
office
at
least
three
days
a
week.

In
December,
Amazon
opened
the
first
half
of
the
42-story
office
tower
in
Bellevue,
dubbed “Sonic,”
and
moved
about
1,000
employees
into
the
building.

“Once
complete
later
this
year,
Sonic
will
provide
space
for
more
than
4,500
employees
total,”
the
company
said.

Amazon
has
continued
to
secure
office
space
outside
of
Seattle,
where
it’s
headquartered.
Its
Seattle
campus
now
spans
tens
of
millions
of
square
feet
across
more
than
40
office
buildings.
Amazon
has
said
it

doesn’t
expect
to
grow
its
presence
further
in
the
city.

The
company

has
said
it
plans
to
hire
25,000
employees
in
the
Bellevue
area.
In
addition
to
the
Sonic
tower,
other
buildings
include
Dynamo,
which
opened
in
February
and
can
house
up
to
1,500
employees,
as
well
as
a
43-story
tower
referred
to
as
the “Bellevue
600”
project.
The
tower,
its
largest,
will
have
about
1
million
square
feet
of
office
space.

While
the
company
is
resuming
work
in
Bellevue,
some
of
Amazon’s
other
office
projects
remain
halted.
Last
March,
Amazon

said
it
would
pause
construction
on
the
second
phase
of
its
sprawling
northern
Virginia
campus,
called
HQ2.
The
second
phase,
referred
to
as
PenPlace,
includes
three
22-story
office
buildings,
retail
space
and
a
350-foot-tall
tower
called “The
Helix.”
The
first
phase
of
HQ2
opened
last
year.