Amazon has moved about half of a planned 2,000 employees from Seattle to Bellevue, Wash., where the company ultimately plans to employ 25,000 people.
Despite an ongoing pause in the construction of numerous new Bellevue office buildings, announced last year, Amazon now has more than 1,000 employees working in 555 Tower in the city east of Seattle, the company confirmed. Commercial real estate website CoStar News first reported on the development.
Amazon said it has completed full construction up to the 19th floor at the 42-story 555 Tower, and is still waiting to proceed with the interior buildout of the remaining floors for now.
The company cited uncertainty about the impact of hybrid work on its office designs when it paused construction on five towers in downtown Bellevue in July 2022. It also said it would hold off on a sixth tower, for the time being.
Amazon said it will move additional employees into the West Main Tower One later this year, and that Amazon Web Services employees are being assigned to these locations over the next few months. West Main is a three-building, half-block project at 117 106th Avenue NE, developed by Vulcan.
Amazon employs more than 55,000 corporate and tech employees in Seattle and more than 10,000 in Bellevue and on the Eastside.
Located at 555 108th Ave. N.E., 555 Tower is taller than any existing building in Bellevue, according to developer Vulcan Real Estate. The building rises to 600 feet and features a standalone retail pavilion at ground level, encircled by a public plaza.
The other buildings include The Artise, at 788 106th Ave NE, a planned 600,000-square-foot, 25 story building leased from Schnitzer West; and Bellevue 600, a two-tower project slated to be the central hub of Amazon’s Bellevue operations.
The 3.5-acre Bellevue 600 site runs from 110th Avenue NE to 108th Avenue NE, near the Bellevue Transit Center and a future Link Light Rail stop. Amazon is holding off, for now, on construction of the 31-story Tower 2 at Bellevue 600.
Amazon did not have any updated timelines on the construction pause or ultimately restarting work on the Bellevue towers. Amazon has previously signaled plans to focus much of its future growth in the city.
A third-quarter report from real estate firm Broderick Group noted that Amazon’s return-to-office mandate this year helped drive other companies to bring workers back to their Bellevue offices.
“The Eastside office market is still in a downward cycle, with increasing vacancies and economics such as rental rates in the early phases of a major adjustment,” the report said. “Amazon injected a much-needed shot of optimism with its May 1st return to office mandate, while also pressing forward to build out its Bellevue CBD office portfolio.”
Microsoft, meanwhile, is pulling back on office space in Bellevue as it continues construction on a refresh of its Redmond headquarters campus. The company announced in September that it won’t renew its biggest lease in Bellevue. The Puget Sound Business Journal reported this summer that Amazon surpassed Microsoft as Bellevue’s largest employer.
