Amazon pausing Virginia construction of second headquarters

Amazon is pausing the development of its planned second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The company made the surprise announcement Friday in an official statement.

"We’ve already hired more than 8,000 employees in HQ2 and we’re excited to welcome them to our new Met Park campus this June," said John Schoettler, vice president of Global Real Estate and Facilities at Amazon. "We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit."

According to the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the project’s net fiscal impact on Arlington was estimated at $162 million of additional revenue over 12 years and $392.5 million over 16 years.

Amazon emphasized that the pause is not indicative of plans to abandon the second headquarters project.

Schoettler continued, "Our second headquarters has always been a multi-year project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater Capital Region – which includes investing in affordable housing, funding computer science education in schools across the region, and supporting dozens of local nonprofits."

The company said it will consider moving forward with pre-construction work later in 2023, including permit applications and utility projects.

Amazon selected Arlington after facing a major backlash to its efforts in New York that was led by liberal groups, unions and some lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.