Local real estate sources estimate that the Internet merchandiser now occupies in the greater Seattle area somewhere between 750,000 sf and 1 million sf. While Amazon.com declines to verify its total office square footage or waht portion could be subject to closure, a source did tell GlobeSt.com that the newly-renovated, 257,000-sf Beacon Hill headquarters will remain, while the McDonough, GA distribution will be closed in its entirety. Amazon.com otherwise is saying only that it is closing a customer service center here and that its "Seattle distribution center will be operated seasonally."
Despite the rash of dot-coms closing or downsizing their offices in the greater Seattle area, few in the local real estate industry seem particularly moved by Amazon's announcement. Rob Aigner, executive director of Seattle's Colliers International office was nonplused.
"Assuming 800 of those jobs lost are here in Seattle, and assuming a couple hundred square feet max for each, we're only talking about 160,000 sf of space in a 30-million-sf market," says Aigner, referring to Downtown Seattle. According to the Colliers exec, the current vacancy rate in the office market (including dot-com subleases) is between 3% and 3.5%.
"Historically, 5% has been comfortable," says Aigner, who survived periods in the 1990s when vacancy rates were in the low teens. "But people have short memories, and everyone keeps thinking back to how tight it was 12 months ago. In "normal" markets, most developers would give their left eye tooth for 5%."
Even the 2.76 million sf of space now under construction in the Seattle CBD doesn't make Aigner flinch, because most of that space is already spoken for, he says. Even the 800,000+ sf IDX building is about 75% leased, says Aigner, and it won't be complete for another two years.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
