Amazon.com will build a new headquarters of up to 1.6 million square feet and 11 buildings in a Seattle neighborhood that Allen hopes will become a center of biotechnology. Amazon plans to begin moving into the new headquarters in mid-2010.

Amazon.com has decided to locate its new corporate headquarters in a Seattle neighborhood that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is seeking to turn into a center for biotechnology companies. Allen’s real estate company, Vulcan Inc., is helping develop the new headquarters for Amazon in the South Lake Union neighborhood, a commercial and industrial area north of downtown Seattle, Amazon’s hometown.

Amazon plans to build up to 11 buildings with 1.6 million square feet of office space in a six-block area of South Lake Union. The Seattle City Council has approved increased building heights that will allow construction of three 12-story buildings on the Amazon site.

Amazon, which currently has several thousand employees working in five office buildings in Seattle, plans to begin moving into the new headquarters space in mid-2010, and complete the move by 2011.

We’re very excited about our move to South Lake Union since it will enable us to serve our customers better by enhancing employee collaboration and productivity, says Tim Halladay, vice president of real estate and finance operations at Amazon.com, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. Proximity to public transportation was an important consideration in choosing the site, Amazon officials say.

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Allen’s Vulcan Inc. has developed nine new commercial biotech, residential and mixed-use projects in the South Lake Union area, totaling 1.7 million square feet. Vulcan will partner on the first phase of the Amazon project with real estate development company Schnitzer West LLC; Vulcan will develop the remainder on its own.

Amazon.com is one of those great Seattle success stories and I’m pleased the company has decided to stay right here in its hometown, says Seattle mayor Greg Nickels. The move also highlights the great things happening in South Lake Union, where we are seeing new jobs, homes and parks transforming this area into a dynamic and diverse neighborhood in the heart of our city.

Amazon has 16,000 employees worldwide, but does not break out the number by location.

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