Amazon invented a neighborhood to serve its Seattle headquarters, but the restaurants it lured there are failing
When Amazon chose downtown Seattle for its massive urban campus, John Schoettler, Amazon's vice president of global real estate, wanted to create a thriving "18-hour" neighborhood.
To some extent, Amazon has succeeded. In a decade, nonstop development has transformed Seattle's South Lake Union and Denny Triangle from a sea of parking lots, car rental agencies, motels, and warehouses to gleaming office towers and luxury real estate.
Restaurants, gyms, cafès, and even medical clinics have moved in, drawn by Amazon's ever-expanding workforce and the promise of high-salaried residents due to move into the thousands of newly-built luxury apartments.
But for many of the neighborhood's new businesses, things haven't turned out exactly like they hoped. For one, they can't get customers in during non-work hours, at dinnertime and on weekends.
"The worst thing is having an empty restaurant and then trying to keep your staff motivated and energized," local restaurateur and chef Josh Henderson told Marketplace.
On a recent visit to Seattle, we checked out the so-called "18-hour" neighborhood.
SEE ALSO: One photo tells you everything you need to know about Amazon's relationship to Seattle
DON'T MISS: One walk through Seattle's 'Amazonia' neighborhood made me very uneasy for whatever city gets HQ2
Over the last decade, Amazon has transformed South Lake Union and its surrounding areas, Belltown and Denny Triangle. Each of those pins on the map is an Amazon office.
Amazon has nearly 40,000 employees in Seattle, with plans to grow to 55,000 in the near future. Amazonians are everywhere downtown.
Amazon's offices are spread across more than 33 buildings and 13.6 million square feet of office space in the area. This is Day 1 Tower, one of four towers that will form the heart of Amazon's urban campus by the time its completed.
Sources: GeekWire, SF Gate, CNBC
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Contributer : Tech Insider http://ift.tt/2qyt34d
No comments:
Post a Comment