Amazon To Purchase Headquarters For $1B

SEATTLE-In a move expected to be the largest US office transaction of the year, Amazon.com will purchase the 11-building headquarters campus here it has been leasing from Vulcan Real Estate for a price of $1.16 billion, industry sources report. As GlobeSt.com had previously reported, in September Vulcan Real Estate put the properties housing the online goliath’s global headquarters on the sale block, and while the parties involved were not able to reveal a list price for the campus to GlobeSt.com, at the time industry sources unrelated to the deal said the aggregate price for the properties was expected to be greater than $1 billion.

In addition to the headquarters campus, Amazon.com had been leasing several hundred-thousand square feet of new space in properties close to its campus, including some of the new properties that Vulcan had been developing. As GlobeSt.com had reported earlier, when Vulcan put the Amazon.com campus up for sale last month, Ada Healey, VP of Vulcan, said, “We have been deeply involved in the redevelopment and revitalization of South Lake Union for over a decade, and the sale of the Amazon campus will allow us to continue to invest in the neighborhood and the community,” said, in a prepared statement. “Our focus today is on helping to continue to make South Lake Union a thriving example of sustainable, mixed-use urban development where businesses, residents and visitors can experience the best of Seattle.” Industry sources reported that Vulcan will invest the proceeds from the Amazon headquarters sale in future development projects here.