Amazon Signs 141,000 Square Foot We Work Lease In Silicon Valley Amid Relentless Expansion And Back To Work Mandate

Amazon’s AMZN office expansion knows no bounds. Fresh from expanding its presence in New York, the tech giant announced it is growing its presence in Silicon Valley by teaming up with WeWork WE to add 141,000 square feet of office space to accommodate its return-to-office mandate, CoStar News reports.

The new offices are located at 4980 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara, California, in a building that Amazon will occupy in its entirety as part of its effort to have its workforce return to a five-day-per-week in-office work schedule.

“We’re constantly evaluating our office footprint based on the needs of Amazon’s businesses,” an Amazon spokesperson told CoStar News.

Don't Miss:

• Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — you can become an investor for $0.80 per share today.
• Peter Thiel turned $1,700 into $5 billion—now accredited investors are eyeing this software company with similar breakout potential. Learn how you can invest with $1,000 at just $0.30/share.

WeWork Works In A Tariff-Wary Climate

WeWork has been a constant collaborator with Amazon, and the most recent deal follows similar arrangements the two companies have made recently, CosStar reports. At 330 W. 34th St. in New York and at 401 San Antonio Road in Mountain View, California, WeWork signed an office lease before Amazon moved in.

“So if we look at it and just take today’s environment with all the uncertainty around tariffs and what’s happening, who’s prepared to commit to a 10- or a 15-year lease with $50 or $100 million spend?” WeWork CEO, John Santora, said of the arrangement with Amazon and other companies at a recent summit. “You have to think about it. You have to think whether or not to invest that major capital in a market, at least through this short term. You have to step back,” he told Bloomberg.

Trending: Invest Where It Hurts — And Help Millions Heal: Invest in Cytonics and help disrupt a $390B Big Pharma stronghold.

Amazon Has Lacked Office Space For Returning Workers

While back-to-work mandates have been popular amongst many major corporations this year, Amazon has struggled to implement their’s due to a lack of office space. Workers in Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta and New York had their deadlines to return to the office pushed back four months while Amazon acquired more space. 

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees in September that returning to an in-office work regimen was vital because “collaborating, brainstorming and inventing are simpler and more effective.”

“If it’s not for you, then that’s OK. You can go and find another company if you want to. But for us, that’s what we’ve decided is the best way to operate our company,” Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said at a Wall Street Journal event in October.

See Also: This Jeff Bezos-backed startup will allow you to become a landlord in just 10 minutes, with minimum investments as low as $100.

Parking And Commuting Are Problems For Returning Workers

The return-to-office push has not been without its complications, with parking space and commuting being among the complaints from former remote workers, the Journal reported.

“While we’ve heard ideas for improvement from a relatively small number of employees and are working to address those, these anecdotes don’t reflect the sentiment we’re hearing from most of our teammates,” a company spokeswoman told the Journal in February. “What we’re seeing is great energy across our offices.” 

The Largest Capital Investment In Pennsylvania

On June 9 Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that Amazon planned to invest “at least $20 billion to establish multiple high-tech cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation campuses across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The push would create “at least 1,250 high-paying, high-tech jobs. Salem Township and Falls Township are the first communities identified as sites for these future campuses,” he said in a statement. It marks the largest capital investment in the commonwealth’s history.

Read Next:

• With Point, you can get up to $500,000 in cash from your property with no monthly payments and no income requirements — even if your credit isn't perfect.
• Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Last Chance to get 4,000 of its pre-IPO shares for just $0.30/share!

Image: Shutterstock