Amazon planning to vacate South Lake Union office as it continues shedding Seattle space

Amazon plans to vacate another South Lake Union office, continuing its retreat from leased space across Seattle.

Amazon has been a tenant in the 81,000-square-foot office at 428 Westlake Avenue N since 2016, but declined a five-year extension on its lease, which runs through March 2027, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report obtained by The Puget Sound Business Journal.

The Seattle-based tech giant leased five floors of the office building as it was rapidly expanding throughout Seattle in 2016, but has relinquished more than 1 million square feet of office space in Seattle since 2020.

In 2024, the Westlake building Amazon currently occupies was purchased for $47.6 million by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a steep 42% price drop from its $81.5 million sales price in 2017.

Amazon invests millions in buildings it owns while letting leases expire across the city

Amazon currently occupies the most office space in the Seattle area, with more than 14 million square feet of space either being leased or owned, though the company has scaled back its lower-capacity space this year, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

In February, the company’s Global Real Estate and Facilities team devised plans to lower Amazon’s average office vacancy rate from 31% to roughly 23% in 2026. The plan included a mixture of letting leases expire, “hibernating” offices and subleasing, or terminating leases.

Amazon let a lease lapse for a 251,000-square-foot space at 1915 Terry Avenue in May, and let another lease expire in 2024 at Met Park North. The company also left towers at 2001 Eighth Avenue and 1800 Ninth Avenue in 2023, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Rather than maintain or add to its office space, Amazon has put a large focus on investing in buildings it owns.

More than $20 million is being spent to upgrade two Amazon buildings in South Lake Union, which include its 550 Terry Avenue N and 551 Boren Avenue N locations, according to permit records obtained by The Puget Sound Business Journal. Both buildings were purchased for a combined $117.8 million in 2021, adding 277,068 square feet to its portfolio.

Amazon also placed five high-rise construction projects in Bellevue on hold as the company reevaluated its office spaces during the pandemic. The projects picked back up earlier this year as Amazon began shrinking its office space.

Amazon currently has roughly 66,000 corporate employees throughout the region, with about 15,000 of those in Bellevue. The company plans to increase that total to 25,000 in the next few years. Amazon also employs about 49,000 workers in Seattle, which is down from its peak of 60,000, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

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