Right now, Amazon's office space square-footage in Seattle is at 3.4M. Here's the thing…that number is probably going to more than double in the coming years. As the company grows, its employees are going to bringing more money into the city, which means more growth for apartments (which are already booming), restaurants and brick & mortar retail. And here's the kicker…as Amazon grows and more money floods in to the city, it's going to help grow the very kind of retail businesses that Amazon is trying to usurp.
Using a 3:1 new hire-to-apartment absorption ratio, Amazon's expansion over the forecast could generate another $722 million of buying power, an increase of 21% across downtown, and as much as 30% in the CBD specifically. Given the existing ratio of buying power to retail stock, Amazon-driven earnings could support 1.7 million square feet of new construction, more than double what is projected over the forecast.
One day, when Supreme Chancellor Bezos has renamed the city New Amazonia, we'll look back and remember these times when we say it all starting to come to fruition.
· Amazon Remaking Seattle in Its Own Image [CoStar]
· Irony alert: Amazon could spur huge amount of bricks-and-mortar retail in Seattle [PSBJ]