Amazon will halt construction of its planned $2.5 billion Virginia headquarters, the company doubles down on cost-cutting
- Amazon will halt construction at its planned Virginia headquarters, but workers will still move into nearly completed areas of the project, Bloomberg reported.
- The move comes after Amazon performed a massive wave of layoffs last month.
- It is unclear when construction may resume on the Arlington HQ.
Email address
By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Amazon will halt construction of its second headquarters in Virginia, as the company cuts jobs and closes stores around the country.
Amazon’s real estate chief John Schoettler confirmed the construction pause to Insider in a statement Friday, but said the company remains committed to the new facility in Arlington, Virginia. The move comes after Amazon laid off nearly 20,000 workers last month, and as the company announced this week it would close eight Amazon Go stores in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco.
According to Amazon, a nearly completed first phase of the headquarters called Metropolitan Park will continue as planned, and will house employees starting in June. PenPlace, another phase of the project, is now halted, Amazon told Insider.
“We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees,” Schoettler told Insider. “And since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit.”
The nearly finished Metropolitan Park includes two newly completed office towers on a 2.1 million-square-foot development, Bloomberg reported. The 2.8 million-square-foot PenPlace would include three new towers and a corporate conference center.
The construction pause is among a slate of cost-cutting measures at the company, including layoffs and the closure of several Amazon Go stores. The retail and tech giant is shuttering eight of its cashierless Go stores in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco, Fortune reported.
Despite recent cost-cutting efforts, Schoettler told Insider the company is still commited to the Arlington campus. However, he did not provide a new start date for construction at PenPlace.
“Our second headquarters has always been a multiyear project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater Capital Region,” Schoettler said.
Construction on Amazon’s second headquarters began in January 2020, according to the company. Amazon has committed to spend $2.5 billion in Arlington by 2030, and plans to hire 25,000 workers, Bloomberg reported.
