Amazon is reportedly planning to leave an 81,000-square-foot office building at 428 Westlake Ave. N. in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood when its lease expires in 2027, according to a report from commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Amazon leased the building in 2016 during a period of rapid expansion in Seattle. The company has since been reducing its office footprint as its workforce and workplace needs have changed. An Amazon spokesperson said the company regularly evaluates its office space to ensure it serves its business, employees and customers.
Amazon’s Seattle workforce has declined from a peak of about 60,000 employees in 2020 to fewer than 50,000 recently. At the same time, its presence in Bellevue has grown, with approximately 14,300 employees there in 2024, up from 11,000 in 2023, according to city data.
The company has also vacated several other Seattle properties in recent years, including portions of office towers in the Denny Triangle. Amazon has generally reduced space as leases expire, although it has renewed or expanded some locations.
The changes are contributing to elevated office vacancies in Seattle’s downtown neighborhoods, which Cushman & Wakefield estimates at 35%. Bellevue’s downtown vacancy rate is about 25%.
Seattle’s office market has seen some new leasing activity. General Motors and Databricks have taken space in a building previously occupied by Amazon, while Apple and Anthropic are expanding in South Lake Union. However, new leases have not fully offset the space being vacated by Amazon and other companies.
