Amazon pulling out of downtown Seattle office tower after 12 years

KIRO 7 News Staff
·1 min read

More tech workers are moving out of downtown Seattle.

Amazon is moving employees out of the West 8th Tower at 2001 Eighth Avenue, a block away from the company’s headquarters and iconic Amazon Spheres.

The company said it will be moving about 2,000 workers into other office spaces across the Puget Sound region, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. Its lease is set to expire in April.

The tech giant had been in the building for 12 years, PSBJ reported.

Amazon says the decision is in response to the ongoing shift to remote work.

The news comes shortly after Amazon announced it would cut more than 18,000 jobs. But the company said the move out of West 8th is unrelated to the layoffs and it’s simply letting its lease expire.

Since last summer, the number of office workers in downtown Seattle has averaged around 40% of pre-pandemic levels, according to cellphone tracking data by the Downtown Seattle Association.