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Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) plans to shift 2,000 employees from Seattle offices to space in two new downtown Bellevue towers at the end of the year, the company told the Business Journal on Monday.
The Seattle-based tech giant expects to open West Main Tower 1 and the 555 Tower in the fourth quarter. Both office towers were spared from Amazon's pause on construction in Bellevue last year. When they open, Amazon's headcount in Bellevue could reach over 12,000.
Amazon's Seattle workforce currently numbers over 55,000, while Bellevue's headcount reached over 10,000 last year, the company told the Business Journal in an email.
Though its headcount has fluctuated, the numbers from Amazon have remained largely unchanged for the past year, thanks to a corporate hiring freeze and the largest layoffs in the company's history, which started in November and have run through late April.
So far, at least 2,300 of the 27,000 employees affected by layoffs were in the Puget Sound region. Of those, at least 448 were based in Bellevue.
The company didn't disclose which Seattle offices the 2,000 additional Bellevue employees would come from.
However, Amazon has confirmed plans to let go of two offices in downtown Seattle. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon said it wouldn't extend its lease at 2201 Westlake Ave. In January, the company confirmed it would leave the West 8th tower at 2001 Eighth Ave., moving about 2,000 employees to offices elsewhere in the area.
The company also hasn't made plans to send employees back to its office in the former Macy's building in downtown Seattle, citing continued public safety concerns. The building is located on a historically troubled stretch of Third Avenue.
Also, Amazon's 140,000-square-foot space in Seattle's Met Park North building is being marketed for sublease.
The rest of Amazon's campus is in the middle of opening up to its workforce. The company's offices have been open throughout the pandemic, however employees were expected back at least three days a week starting May 1.
That return-to-office date became a looser milestone for Seattle's economic recovery — employees aren't expected back until their assigned offices are "ready." In an internal guideline viewed by the Business Journal, Amazon revealed its Seattle-area offices would have readiness dates generally ranging from May 2 through mid-June.
