Remember when Amazon turned the United States into a Thunderdome, making every state fight for the right to house the next big company headquarters and 25,000 jobs? Well, after laying off more than half that number, Amazon is hitting the brakes on HQ2 in Virginia, postponing construction of three 22-story office towers.
the news came first reported by Bloomberg. The first phase of construction, called Parque Metropolitano, is nearly complete and will house about 8,000 employees when it opens in June, assuming the new “three days a week” rule holds. The second, larger section, known as the PenPlace, was originally set to start construction now. But that has been delayed indefinitely.
Unfortunately, this includes the hub-shaped “Helix” companion building to the “Spheres” in Seattle (known locally by a different name) also being postponed.
Although Amazon insisted that “this change is not a result, nor is it indicative, of role eliminations,” it is impossible to consider the decision without taking into account the fact that the company recently laid off some 18,000 people across the company. I asked if the Virginia employees were among those laid off (seems very likely), but have received no response.
This isn’t the only place where Amazon seems to have gotten ahead of itself in office space. At its Seattle headquarters, entire floors are empty and construction on a new office tower in Bellevue (just east of Seattle) and in Nashville has been halted.
You’re not alone in this, of course: Many tech companies were building millions of square feet of new offices before 2020. Amazon wasn’t even the only one who went fishing to see which state would offer the biggest tax breaks (Washington state has been leaning to the left recently and threatening new taxes, emboldening plans to escape to friendlier climates).
And he’s not the only one who doesn’t know exactly what to do in this new world of remote work, having invested truly huge sums in office complexes that few employees seem to want or need. Simply forcing people to come to work has been one “fix”, and kicking the can down the road in more expensive offices is another.
But Amazon has committed to bringing 25,000 jobs to HQ2 by 2030 and “our long-term intent and commitment remains unchanged,” the company wrote in a statement. A company as large and enduring as Amazon can weather the twin storms of macroeconomic conditions and the folly of its leadership’s business decisions, filling the sails in the next recovery and hiring like crazy when the time comes. After all, there are tax breaks!
