Due to be opened officially in 2013, the new campus will feature 1.9 million square feet of office space. There will also be 100,000 square feet of street-level retail space available once the project is finished.
See examples of flexible workspace options in Seattle here
All the new buildings were designed and built with a view to sustainability. They have green landscaping and Amazon is hoping that 60 per cent of employees will get to work by bicycle, bus or carpool.
The retail space will boast three locations from local restaurateur Tom Douglas, a sports bar, an Italian restaurant and a Tibetan restaurant.
Located in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighbourhood, the new HQ is being built by developer Vulcan Real Estate.
Ada Healey, Vulcan vice president of Real Estate was quoted in the Seattle Post Intelligencer as saying: “South Lake Union has become critical as an economic engine for the city and the region as a whole.
“South Lake Union will go from 16,000 permanent jobs in 2003 to 40,000 permanent jobs by 2015, and that was during a period when we had the great recession. And 20,000 construction workers have been employed in the South Lake Union redevelopment efforts.”
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said that the project would provide new opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses.
Amazon has offices scattered through various neighbourhoods in Seattle, including Union Station, Beacon Hill and The Columbia Centre. However, once the new campus is finished it has said it will consolidate all employees in the new facility.
Currently, Amazon is the largest online retailer in the US and employs 33,700 people worldwide. The website is available in French, German, Italian, Japanese and Chinese.
Editor’s notes: Further details of Amazon’s Seattle offices can be found here
As of June 2023, Amazon operated in around 20 countries across 5 continents. Countries include Brazil, France, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, the UK, and the US, to name a few examples.
As well as the countries it operates in, the e-commerce giant delivers to over 100 countries globally.