Construction on pause for Amazon’s HQ2 in Virginia
NEW YORK — Amazon is pausing construction of its second headquarters in Virginia following the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history and its shifting plans around remote work.
The Seattle-based company is delaying the beginning of construction of Penplace, the second phase of its headquarters development in northern Virginia, Amazon’s real estate chief John Schoettler said in a statement. He said the company has already hired more than 8,000 employees and will welcome them to the Met Park campus, the first phase of development, when it opens this June.
“We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, 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,” Schoettler said.
Schoettler also emphasized the company remains “committed to Arlington” and the local region, which Amazon picked
— along with New York City — to be the site of its new headquarters, known as HQ2, several years ago. More than 230 municipalities had initially competed to house the projects. New York won the competition by promising nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and grants, among other benefits, but opposition from local politicians, labor leaders and progressive activists led Amazon to scrap its plans there.
In February 2021, Amazon said it would build an eyecatching, 350-foot Helix tower to anchor the second phase of its redevelopment plans in Arlington. The new office towers
were expected to welcome more than 25,000 workers when complete. Amazon spokesperson Zach Goldsztejn said those plans haven’t changed and the construction pause is not a result — or indicative of — the company’s latest job cuts, which affected 18,000 corporate employees.
The layoffs were part of a broader cost-cutting move to trim down Amazon’s growing workforce amid more sluggish sales and fears of a potential recession. Meta, Salesforce and other tech companies — many of which had gone on hiring binges in the past few years — have also been doing the same.