Amazon’s second Seattle campus is officially expanding to five blocks.
The tech giant has filed for permits to build a 17-story office building at 2205 7th Ave., the site of a former Days Inn hotel, according to city records. Amazon in December paid more than $19 million for property, a half-block along the west side of Seventh Avenue, between Blanchard and Bell streets.
Amazon’s rapid expansion in its hometown comes amid unprecedented of growth for the company worldwide. Amazon last week reported that it has surpassed 341,000 employees globally, an increase of 110,000 in just the past year, not including temporary or seasonal staff. Amazon employs 40,000 people in Washington state, including about 25,000 people at its Seattle headquarters.
The company’s growth has transformed the area north of downtown Seattle, and turned Amazon into an emblem of the technology boom — helping to fuel the regional economy while contributing to traffic problems and rising housing costs.
On the 2205 7th Ave. site, Amazon is seeking a permit to demolish “existing unoccupied 39,260 sf hotel built in 1958 and 7,420 sf single story commercial building built in 1940 to construct new 17 story office building of approximately 405,000 square feet with ground floor retail and approximately 405 below-grade parking spaces.”
In addition to the former Days Inn, which has been serving as student housing for Cornish College of the Arts, the site was home to the city’s now-shuttered Pronto bike-sharing program.
Because of zoning restrictions, the newly proposed building at 2205 7th Ave. is half the size of Amazon’s existing 36-story Doppler and Day One buildings.
RELATED: How Seattle’s office market became a ‘modern day gold rush’ thanks to Amazon and other tech giants
Amazon is filling out a puzzle of Seattle real estate with its latest moves. The latest site is north of Amazon’s recently opened Day One tower, and across the street from a full-block site, formerly home to the Hurricane Cafe, where Amazon plans to build a 23-story building and an 8-story building in the future.
The company is also building a new tower across from Day One and the Doppler tower. Doppler was the first building in the new campus, just north of downtown Seattle. The new buildings are connected to Amazon’s already even more expansive campus in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
By 2022, Amazon says it could occupy 12 million square feet across 40 buildings in Seattle, up from 8.5 million square feet as of the middle of last year.
The company declined to comment today on its plans for the new building.
