Utility work at the planned second site for Amazon’s HQ2 has concluded.
“All construction operations have concluded,” contractor Clark Construction told local residents in an email Friday. “Your engagement and support has helped us to efficiently carry out these community enhancements. We appreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation.”
But if Amazon still intends to begin construction on its planned PenPlace campus after announcing an indefinite delay, it may be running out of time.
Amazon has until April 2025 to revise or finalize site plans that the Arlington County Board approved back in 2022 for the second phase of its second headquarters. Either that, or the company needs to get an extension from the Board, county spokesperson David Barrera told ARLnow.
“The County remains excited about PenPlace,” Barrera said. “Amazon’s presence in Arlington to date has generated significant positive community, economic and fiscal benefits, and when Amazon is ready to begin construction, the County will be as supportive as it was during the construction of Met Park.”
An Amazon spokesperson told ARLnow “there are no updates on PenPlace” at this time.
Amazon announced an indefinite pause on PenPlace construction in March 2023. That May, County Board Chair Libby Garvey said she believed the delay would be “just a year.”
As the months ticked by, Garvey said in March of this year that “we are not hearing anything new from Amazon about Phase 2.”
“The expectation still is that they will move forward with Phase 2 this year,” she said at the time. “I believe they are evaluating how office space is being used post-pandemic to inform what they ultimately build.”
This October, Amazon announced that plans had changed for a high school originally set to relocate into PenPlace in 2026. Arlington Community High School will instead be moving into Amazon’s current headquarters at Metropolitan Park.
In recent years, the company has fallen behind on its hiring goal of adding 25,000 new jobs at HQ2 by the end of the decade, the Washington Post reported this spring.
The HQ2 Phase 2 delay comes despite Amazon increasing emphasis on in-person work.
Starting next month, Amazon employees — including at HQ2 — will return to working from the office five days a week, up from three days a week right now. It was reported this week that Amazon had to delay the full return-to-office mandate in some cities due to a lack of available desks.
