Microsoft puts final 5 buildings of $5B Redmond expansion on hold

The last five buildings included in Microsoft’s $5 billion Redmond campus expansion have been put on hold until further notice.

Microsoft President Brad Smith stated Monday that the company has no short-term plans to construct the buildings, informally known as Sammamish Village, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

“I don’t think we have any imminent plans to add to that or other areas,” Smith said. “I do think we’ll have to digest this new change, so to speak, and we’ll get a better sense in the next several months.”

Sammamish Village area has been paved over with cement, fenced off

The expansion project has been in progress for nearly a decade now, and is the largest private construction project in the Puget Sound region.

Microsoft split the 17-building project into four sections, with each village’s name drawing inspiration from the state, including Whatcom, Chelan, Sammamish, and Washington. Five of the 17 buildings were designated to the Sammamish Village.

Although most of the construction for the four villages is nearly complete or fully completed, a majority of the Sammamish Village area has been paved over with cement and fenced off.

The project’s initial filing outlined a plan for four of the buildings to be dedicated to office space, with another unit set to be a utility plant.

Meanwhile, the rest of the expansion plan has come together, with the campus now offering retail shops in its East Campus Plaza. Exterior work on The Square also appears to be complete.

Redmond officials wrote in a September report that the campus would be fully completed by the middle of this year, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Similar to other tech companies like Google and Meta, Microsoft enacted its return-to-office policy this week, with Smith noting that the dates paired well with the expansion project’s completion.

“We made the decision last year to bring people back, but we didn’t want to go through the experience of bringing people back and finding the office space wasn’t ready for them,” Smith said.

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