Amazon's HQ2 in Virginia finally opens — does it still make sense?
Amazon (AMZN) officially opened up its second headquarters, called HQ2, in Arlington, Va., on Thursday.
It's been in the making for the better part of a decade when the plan for a second HQ was first made public in 2017 – back when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was still the company's CEO.
The opening, though, comes at a time of turmoil for America's second largest company. Amazon has pushed through 27,000 layoffs in its corporate workforce as it negotiates a difficult post-pandemic boom economic period.
The company, which has its first headquarters in Seattle, isn't thinking about HQ2 as an expansion, though, said Amazon Vice President of Economic Development Holly Sullivan. "I would think about HQ2 as us living up to our commitments…and, today, we delivered on our commitment," she said, adding that HQ2 will fundamentally make Amazon more efficient.
"It improves workflow, especially across time zones, and the ease of doing business is no longer dependent on time zones," she told Yahoo Finance.
The new facility, called Metropolitan Park, features 2.1 million square feet of office space, a 2.5 acre park, and 50,000 square feet of retail space, which will be occupied by local businesses like a dog day care and a taqueria, said Sullivan. The campus includes two 22-story buildings, Jasper and Merlin, that were built to highlight sustainability.
Though Thursday marked the official opening, Metropolitan Park has been opening in phases over the last few weeks. Merlin, for instance, has been open for about three weeks, and on Thursday, the company welcomed 3,000 employees to the offices, Sullivan told Yahoo Finance.
HQ2 was conceived in a pre-pandemic world, some time before COVID-19 popularized remote work. In recognition of how working environments have shifted, Amazon in its HQ2 design was "looking to meet the need for increased collaboration space," said Sullivan. The buildings feature a series of central floors and an emphasis on breakout rooms in the planning, she added.
In February, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that employees would be required to return to office at least three days a week, a position he doubled-down on in April. In May, about 2,000 Amazon employees walked off the job citing concerns about "company leadership’s decision making," and emphasizing the company's return-to-office and environmental policies.
The company is bringing 8,000 employees in total to HQ2, all of whom are locally hired from the areas surrounding Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
"Hiring is ahead of schedule," said Sullivan.
Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.
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