By Meghan Hall
Following its decision to lease several buildings in downtown Bellevue, Amazon has now decided to acquire an asset for its expanding Eastside workforce. The company closed on the 256,830 square foot Bellevue Corporate Plaza and adjacent parking structure for $195 million on April 19th, according to King County public records. Located at 600 108th Ave. N.E., the existing 10-story office structure was sold by Chicago-based real estate equity investment trust Equity Commonwealth.
The adjacent, two-story parking structure includes 650 parking stalls. According to property records, the assessed value of the site is $127 million, and an Amazon subsidiary, which the company has used in past property purchases, Acorn Development, was listed as the buyer.
At the time of the sale, Equity Commonwealth had been planning a two-tower project, Bellevue 600, which would include a 450-foot-tall office and 41-story hotel on the property. Both towers would be constructed on a podium that would include retail and up to 2,000 parking spaces. Equity Commonwealth had planned to tear down the site’s existing parking garage to make way for the project.
Renovated in 2016, the office building is located right next to the Bellevue Transit Center and features amenities such as a tenant lounge, deli, secure bicycle storage and shower and locker facilities. Nearby dining options include Jimmy John’s Market Fresh and City Soups at Key Center.
Founded in Bellevue, the company continues to grow throughout the city. In August of 2018 Amazon signed a 16-year lease for more than 400,000 square feet at 333 108th Ave. N.E. Amazon is expected to take over the 20-story office building, just down the street from its latest purchase, in 2020. The property is also owned by Equity Commonwealth. In December of 2018, Amazon inked a lease totaling 17 stories and 377,000 square feet of Class A office space at the highly anticipated Summit III building in downtown Bellevue. Located at 320 108th Ave. N.E., the property is currently under development by Hines Global REIT. The company’s first lease, signed in 2016, was for 354,000 square feet of space at Center 425, on 106th Ave. N.E.
With the purchase of the Bellevue Corporate Plaza, Amazon’s footprint in downtown Bellevue has expanded well beyond one million square feet, and more than 2,000 Amazon employees work in the city. While the company’s office footprint across the lake in Seattle totals more than 10 million square feet and is much larger, Amazon currently has hundreds of job openings posted for Bellevue, and several thousand Amazon employees are expected to be based in Bellevue in the coming years.
