Amazon pauses work on six new US office buildings to weigh hybrid work needs

AMAZON.COM, Inc. is pausing the construction of six new office buildings in Bellevue and Nashville to reevaluate the designs to suit hybrid work, the tech giant said on Friday.

The pause and delay of construction will not affect Amazon’s hiring plans, a company spokesperson said, reiterating the firm’s proposal to create 25,000 jobs in Bellevue and another 5,000 in Nashville.

“The pandemic has significantly changed the way people work… Our offices are long-term investments and we want to make sure that we design them in a way that meets our employees’ needs in the future,” said John Schoettler, vice-president of Global Real Estate and Facilities at Amazon.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Facebook parent Meta Platforms META.O and Amazon have pulled back on their office expansion plans in New York City.

Meta has decided not to take an additional 300,000 square feet of space at 770 Broadway, a building near Astor Place where it is already located and Amazon has cut down the amount of space it intended to lease from JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM.N at Hudson Yards, the report said.

“There are often a number of reasons why we wouldn’t proceed with a particular deal, including office utilization. The past few years have brought new possibilities around the ways we connect and work,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters without confirming or denying the report.

“We remain firmly committed to New York and look forward to opening the Farley in the coming months,” the spokesperson added.

Amazon declined to comment on the report. — Reuters

If you like this article, share it on social media by clicking any of the icons below.

Or in case you haven’t subscribed yet to our newsletter, please click SUBSCRIBE so you won’t miss the daily real estate news updates delivered right to your Inbox.

The article was originally published in Business World.