Amazon pauses construction on 2nd headquarters in Virginia

NEW YORK — Amazon is pausing building of its second headquarters in Virginia following the largest spherical of layoffs within the firm’s historical past and shifting panorama of distant work.

The Seattle-based firm is delaying the start of building of PenPlace, the second part of its headquarters growth in Northern Virginia, stated John Schoettler, Amazon’s actual property chief, in an announcement. He stated the corporate has already employed greater than 8,000 staff and can welcome them to the Met Park campus, the primary part of growth, when it opens this June.

“We’re all the time evaluating house plans to ensure they match our enterprise wants and to create a terrific expertise for workers, and since Met Park may have house to accommodate greater than 14,000 staff, we’ve determined to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second part of HQ2) out a bit,” Schoettler stated.

He additionally emphasised the corporate stays “dedicated to Arlington” and the native area.

Amazon introduced the plans in February 2021 for an attention-grabbing, 350-foot Helix tower to anchor the second part of its redevelopment plans in Arlington. The brand new workplace towers have been anticipated to welcome greater than 25,000 employees when full. Amazon spokesperson Zach Goldsztejn stated these plans have not modified and the development pause will not be a end result – or indicative of – the corporate’s newest job cuts, which affected 18,000 company staff.

The job cuts have been a part of a broader cost-cutting transfer to trim down its rising workforce amid extra sluggish gross sales and fears of a possible recession. Meta, Salesforce and different tech firms — lots of which had gone on hiring binges previously few years — have additionally been trimming their workforce.

Amid the job cuts, Amazon has urged its staff to come back again to the workplace. Final month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated the corporate would require company staff to return to the workplace no less than three days every week, a shift from from the prior coverage that allowed leaders to make the decision on how their groups labored. The change, which shall be successfully on Could 1, has ignited some pushback from staff who say they like to work remotely.

Goldsztejn stated the corporate is anticipating to maneuver ahead with what he referred to as pre-construction work on the development in Virginia later this 12 months, together with making use of for permits. The corporate had beforehand stated it plans to finish the undertaking in 2025.