Amazon pauses construction on six US office buildings to consider hybrid work needs

The delay in Washington state and Tennessee will not affect the tech company's hiring plans

The e-commerce company Amazon is reassessing developments in Washington state and Nashville, Tennessee. PA

Amazon is pausing the construction of six office buildings in Bellevue, Washington, and Nashville, Tennessee, to re-evaluate the designs to suit hybrid work, the tech company said on Friday.

The pausing and delay of construction will not affect Amazon's hiring plans, a company representative said, reiterating the firm's proposal to create 25,000 jobs in Bellevue and another 5,000 in Nashville.

“The [coronavirus] pandemic has significantly changed the way people work … Our offices are long-term investments and we want to make sure that we design them in a way that meets our employees' needs in the future,” said John Schoettler, vice president of global real estate and facilities at Amazon.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Amazon have pulled back on their office expansion plans in New York City.

Meta has decided not to take an additional 300,000 square feet of space at 770 Broadway, a building near Astor Place where it is already located, and Amazon has cut down the amount of space it intended to lease from JP Morgan at Hudson Yards, the report said.

“There are often a number of reasons why we wouldn't proceed with a particular deal, including office utilisation. The past few years have brought new possibilities around the ways we connect and work,” a Meta representative told Reuters without confirming or denying the report.

“We remain firmly committed to New York and look forward to opening the Farley in the coming months,” the representative said.

Amazon declined to comment on the report.