Amazon To Become Vancouver's Largest Office User As Part Of HQ2 Pivot

Photo credit: Courtesy of QuadReal Property Group
A Rendering Of The Post, Quadreal's Redevelopment Of The Canada Post Office Building In Downtown Vancouver.

Amazon may not be finished with New York, but another city has emerged as a primary beneficiary of its reversal on HQ2 in the Big Apple.

The Seattle-based company has agreed to lease nearly 1.3M SF at two new office developments across the street from one another in Downtown Vancouver, Canada, The Globe and Mail and Daily Hive report. Amazon has agreed to take the entire office portions of both buildings, which some in the real estate industry speculate could bring its total employment in Vancouver over 12,000 workers by 2023.

The vast majority of Amazon's new space will be at The Post, QuadReal Property Group's redevelopment of the Canada Post office building that will include two new glassy towers on top of the existing structure. Amazon had agreed to lease 416K SF of the 1.13M SF available at the Post in April, before expanding that deal to include all 1.13M SF in late November, the Globe and Mail reports.

Amazon has also agreed to lease the entire 152K SF office portion of Oxford Properties Group's development at 402 Duinsmuir St., the Daily Hive reports. Construction on the nine-story tower is estimated to be completed by the middle of next year, as opposed to 2023 for the Post.

QuadReal's redevelopment will be the largest office property in Vancouver when completed, and it will sit on top of a 200K SF retail portion, the Globe and Mail reports. When the 21- and 22-story towers are completed and filled, it would make Amazon the city's largest office occupier, according to the Toronto-based paper.

When the e-commerce titan pulled out of its deal to place 25,000 employees in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens for Amazon HQ2, it announced its intention to redistribute those jobs across cities where it already had a presence, specifically singling out Denver, San Francisco and Vancouver, CNBC reported.

Though the two above leases represent its first major expansion in Vancouver since that time, Amazon already occupies nearly 200K SF across two open office buildings, plus additional space at several WeWork locations in the city, the Daily Hive reports.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

JVP Development Is Betting $37M Of Its Own Money That Frisco Is Ready For Spec Office

Wall Street Impatient For Big Tech Returns On Data Center Spending

As AI Adoption Ramps Up, Half A Million Property Managers Are In The Crosshairs

Hedge Fund Bids $88M For Spirit Airlines' Former HQ

Treasuries Hover Around 4.7% As Wall Street Questions If Warsh Is A 'Dove In Hawk's Clothing'

Avison Young Had Assets Frozen By Bank Over Unpaid Taxes

Camden Property Trust Sells West Coast Portfolio, Clears $1.5B Target

Churchill Downs Plans To Sell 9 Casinos, Focus On Horse Racing

Bringing Stability And Savings To CRE Insurance Through Working Layer

More Hotel Owners In Need Of Cash Are Getting It From The Big Brands

Former Arms Dealer Targeting Heartland Apartment Takeover Files For Bankruptcy

SEC Charges REIT, Its Founders With Alleged $152M Fraud Scheme