Amazon Plans Its Tallest Tower Ever- In Bellevue

Amazon plans to build its tallest tower ever in the growing city of Bellevue, Washington, continuing the rapid growth outside the tech company’s Seattle headquarters—located just 10 miles west.

The project, dubbed 600 Bellevue, is just the latest signal that the city of Bellevue has become the clear focal point of Amazon’s future growth, after they already announced their decision to move their entire Seattle-based Worldwide Operations team to the eastside starting this year (expected completion of the move by 2024). The company has repeatedly clashed with Seattle officials, and pulled out of its plans to build their HQ2 in Seattle at the beginning of this year. The move allows Amazon to continue tapping the Seattle region’s deep talent pool but lets the company escape some of the friction it is experiencing in its hometown, however the company’s recent focus on Bellevue does not mean it has given up on Seattle. The company currently employs some 45,000 people in Seattle and has nearly 11,000 job openings for Seattle positions.

With about 1 million square feet, the building will have room for several thousand employees, according to Amazon spokesperson Adam Sedo, and it will be home to the crucial Worldwide Operations team.

The Seattle Times first reported on the 43-story, 600-foot skyscraper that will be built on a site Amazon purchased earlier this year for $195 million. Amazon has filed a pre-application package for the project, Sedo said, and details could change as the plans develop. The site is on top of a future light rail station, and it could serve as a hub connecting Amazon’s offices in both Seattle and Bellevue.Amazon opened its first Bellevue office building in 2017. In less than two years, the company’s footprint has multiplied to more than 1 million square feet. Today, Amazon has about 500 employees in Bellevue with another 500 open positions based there.

With Amazon’s project and other large companies making the move to the eastside, we can expect for tens of thousands of workers to descend upon the city in the next few years, which is sure to make an impact on the eastside real estate market.