By 2022, Amazon has said it plans to occupy 12M SF across 40 buildings in Seattle. A recent report by GeekWire indicates the tech giant is well on its way to achieving this goal. Three commercial real estate sources told GeekWire that Amazon has a pending lease for the entirety of the office portion of a large mixed-use structure called the Rainier Square project.
The Rainier Square project includes a 58-story office and residential building as well as a 12-story hotel. The office space totals 710K SF on the lower floors, with 220 residential units above. The adjacent hotel has 165 rooms.
Designed by NBBJ with Lease Crutcher Lewis as the general contractor and Magnusson Klemencic Associates as the structural engineer, Rainier Square was designed as a complement to Rainier Tower, a sloping structure imagined by legendary Pacific Northwest architect Minoru Yamasaki.
Rainier Square is part of the University of Washington’s Metropolitan Tract, which covers about 11 acres on more than four city blocks.
F5 Networks was interested in the structure before Amazon, GeekWire reports. But after a thorough search, F5 decided on a project a few blocks south at Fifth and Columbia, which is now called F5 Tower.
Amazon’s continued growth demands the office space expansion. Washington boasts the largest number of Amazon employees at more than 40,000, a figure that does not include seasonal workers. The company now has a total global headcount of 382,400 with another 19,500 open positions on its website. Amazon brought on 31,000 employees in the most recent quarter.
Construction on Rainier Square is slated to begin in the next couple of months.
CORRECTION, AUG. 8, 6:49 P.M. PT: A previous version of this story had the wrong square footage for Amazon's growth plans in Seattle. The company plans to occupy 12M SF by 2022. The story has been updated.
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