Photo: Wright Runstad & Co, Seattle Times
With all the headlines about creating a second headquarters in another city, Amazon is nevertheless leasing more office space and still growing in downtown Seattle. They have signed one of the biggest office space leases in Seattle history in the new Rainier Square building. The new skyscraper will be the second tallest building in the region and will give Amazon 722,000 square feet of space with room for over 3,500 new employees. Read more in The Seattle Times.
In addition, Amazon is completing their third office tower in South Lake Union and already occupies 20 percent of all prime office space in Seattle. With the active expansion plans in the Seattle area, it doesn’t appear that Amazon has plans to cut back their presence in Washington State. Seattle currently has 74 major buildings under construction and some projects are completely leased out before they are opened. Washington State’s economy continues to grow with an ever broadening base of tech, aerospace, bio science, advanced manufacturing and clean tech businesses.