Amazon Seeks to Expand Seattle Footprint, Add One Block of Office Space

Amazon is hoping to increase its presence in the Denny-Triangle neighborhood by adding another 778,000 square feet of office space on a fourth block to its 3.3 million square foot, three-block campus in Seattle, according to proposals submitted to the city. The permit filing seeks to build a 24-story office tower, 6-story office building, 5-story office podium and retail space to the fourth block, which is bounded by Seventh and Eighth avenues and Blanchard and Bell streets. If the plans are approved by the city, it will give Amazon a total of nearly 4.1 million square feet of space on the four blocks.

In addition, the company's headquarters in the South Lake Union area totals 1.7 million square feet of office, and Amazon leases space in other buildings in downtown Seattle, according to a Puget Sound Business Journal article. Currently, the company is in a total of 3.7 million square feet, and by 2021 it will occupy 8.2 million square feet of space, according to commercial real estate trade group NAIOP. Based on industry standards for employees per square feet, that would be enough for around 41,000 employees.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Amazon's Denny Triangle Expansion Designs Revealed

Earlier this year Amazon.com tentatively bought three blocks in Seattle's Denny Triangle in one of Seattle's biggest real-estate deals in years, and this month they've released designs for the new expansion project. Seattle-based Amazon purchased the three blocks — bounded roughly by Westlake Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Blanchard Street — from their longtime owner, Seattle's Clise family. Amazon is now seeking approval for its plan to erect three 38-story towers in a 3.3 million square foot project that would bring its workforce together in Seattle.

According to a Puget Sound Business Journal article, the early design packet submitted by Seneca Real Estate Group Inc. and architecture firm NBBJ includes several potential amenities. One possibility is an "awareness garden" featuring storm-water management waterways flowing alongside the walkways. Another is a neighborhood walking/jogging trail leading to a public square resembling Westlake Plaza; the plaza would be located near the intersection of 7th Avenue and Lenora Street.

The Puget Sound Business Journal reported on the proposed designs:

The simplest master plan would put two office towers on each of the three blocks. Alleys would remain in place with office buildings on either side.

Each of the three other master plans would eliminate mid-block alleys, allowing a single T-shaped, L-shaped or Z-shaped building to be constructed on each site. The designs would allow for public open spaces on each of the blocks, with an auditorium located adjacent to Lenora Street between 6th and 7th avenues.

The other alternatives propose different alignments for the buildings. In the second alternative, known as the City Street Scheme, the office buildings would be aligned perpendicular to the numbered avenues. In a third alternative known as the Westlake Scheme, two of the buildings would be oriented toward Westlake Avenue while the third building would be turned 45 degrees so that its length would run along a true east/west axis.

The fourth alternative, called Preferred Scheme, would have the two towers between 6th and 7th avenues sitting perpendicular to 7th Avenue with the third tower between 7th and 8th avenues running perpendicular to 7th Avenue.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.