The impact of a decision by a company the size of Amazon on all sectors of commercial real estate is amazing! This is more true than ever as we move farther into 2019.
Amazon has been disinvited to move to New York City and is being re-invited by New York’s governor. Amazon has terminated their rights to the new development in downtown Seattle where they leased, then announced subleasing and now have abandoned about 750,000 square feet of space in Rainier Square. (link to article about political environment). Bellevue on the other hand now projects an employment level of Amazonians of approximately 25,826. This is an increase from the current level of employment of 6,900. That equates to 150 square foot per employee, or only 3.9 Million square feet.
The impact is better measured in terms of dollars. Amazon has over 1,818 employees earning $100,000 or more. Infosys has 1,361, Facebook 1,209, Microsoft 1,202, and Apple, 1,200. Another huge impact is the proposed T-Mobile acquisition of Sprint. Add another 33,400 jobs to that company.
If you have digested all those numbers and are still with the professionals of Seattle Commercial Real Estate, start to think about the impacts on our area in terms of multi-family, commercial and industrial real estate. Remember, when things are so good that no one can lose, someone will inevitably lose out. Could that be the City of Seattle?
