Amazon resumes construction of suburban Seattle towers after years of hiatus | Wilnesh News

Amazon The company is resuming construction on a 42-story office tower in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue Thursday saidthe building’s 22 floors have remained unfinished since 2022.

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

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

“When completed later this year, Sonic will provide office space for a total of more than 4,500 employees,” the company said.

Amazon continues to look for office space outside of its headquarters in Seattle. Its Seattle campus currently spans tens of millions of square feet and has more than 40 office buildings. Amazon said it does not expect to further expand its presence in the city.

The company said it plans to hire 25,000 workers in the Bellevue area. In addition to the Sonic Tower, other buildings include Dynamo, which opened in February and can accommodate up to 1,500 employees, and a 43-story tower known as the “Bellevue 600” project. The tower, the largest of its kind, 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 on hold. Last March, Amazon said it would pause construction on the second phase of its massive northern Virginia campus, known as HQ2. The second phase, called PenPlace, includes three 22-story office towers, retail space and a 350-foot-tall tower, “The Helix.” The first phase of HQ2 opened last year.