BELLEVUE, Wash. — Construction will resume on the final 22 floors of a Bellevue office tower that's part of Amazon's headquarters expansion.
The company announced Thursday the construction will bring another 500,000 square feet of space to Tower 555, or "Sonic." It is expected to be complete sometime this year, according to Amazon.
In December, about 1,000 Amazon employees moved into the unfinished Sonic building. In February, the West Main or "Dynamo" building opened, bringing in another 1,500 employees to Bellevue.
Once complete, the Sonic building will provide a space for more than 4,500 employees, according to Amazon.
The company's long-term plans are to bring 25,000 jobs to the city.
"Amazon's continued investment in Bellevue is another show of confidence that our city is growing and open for business," Joe Fain, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber said in a prepared statement. "Nearly 80% of polled residents shared that the growth that Amazon and other tech companies have brought to Bellevue has been good for the city. As the office market across the globe continues to show signs of post-pandemic strain, Bellevue is bucking the trend and breathing fresh life into its Downtown."
Construction on the Bellevue tower continues despite Amazon announcing this week it will cut hundreds of jobs in its web services department. The roles were linked to technology for physical stores and the job cuts were announced a day after the company said it was ending its "Just Walk Out" technology in grocery stores.
Amazon also announced it will cut more roles in the web services sales, marketing and global service organization.
In January, the company cut several hundred positions across its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit. That same month, Twitch, the popular social media platform owned by Amazon, laid off more than 500 jobs in a bid to save on costs. The online audiobook and podcast service Audible also laid off about 5% of its workforce.
Amazon says it will continue to hire in priority areas. The company currently has thousands of AWS job openings posted online. It says it will try to find internal opportunities for employees whose roles are impacted.
Watch KING 5's top stories on YouTube