A recent article about the Amazon construction in downtown Seattle pointed out that they currently occupy 3.2 million square feet, are building another 3.9 million square feet, and have as much as still another 2 million square feet in the design stage. The bigger question might relate to the fact that they own all of this real estate, do not show earnings as a company, and what would the potential long term effects be on the commercial and office real estate markets if something happened to Amazon. If you answer the specter of that question, you must also look at what that would do to the downtown multiple residential markets.
Seattle grew up out of World War II as an industrial and shipping center with some tourism. The major industry was the Boeing Airplane Company. As Boeing went, so went Seattle until the 1962 Worlds Fair put Seattle on the international maps. In 1969 Boeing impacted commercial real estate in office, industrial and multi residential areas with a major cut in its work force. The billboard sign on the freeway asked the last person leaving Seattle to please turn out the lights.Today in SeattleBoeing is no longer the single driving factor in commercial real estate. The new industrial base includes huge internet companies such as Amazon. Seattle Commercial Real Estate LLC. We counsel our clients to be aware of the huge impact a failure such as Amazon could have in terms of the real estate needs and investment opportunities in commercial and multi family housing.
