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The health of downtown is a key driver in whether Seattle can attract entrepreneurs and companies from elsewhere in the country to relocate or set up satellite operations. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
Seattle city leaders have not been shy about cheering Amazon and CEO Andy Jassy’s mandate that put people back at their HQ desks at the beginning of the year.
That sentiment appeared again during a conference call with reporters Thursday focused on the city’s ongoing efforts to revitalize downtown Seattle.
In a previous meeting last August, stakeholders stressed that the goal is to attract downtown visitors of all kinds, not just the office workers who largely disappeared during the pandemic.
“Everything that we’re doing is really trying to make sure that downtown is buzzing Sunday to Sunday,” said Markham McIntyre, director of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development.
But the return of Amazon’s substantial corporate and tech workforce — Amazon is the city’s largest employer — to its headquarters buildings five days per week is clearly being celebrated.
“I think everyone, including the city, is kind of watching it play out,” said McIntyre. “Certainly, there’s been different opinions about it, but generally it has meant more people downtown, which we’re really excited about, because again, downtown runs on people.”
Seattle’s downtown core has struggled to rebound from the pandemic and rise of remote work relative to other U.S. cities. Many tech companies don’t require employees to be in the office everyday, or have downsized or ditched office space altogether — though others such as Apple have recently inked new leases around downtown.
Asked whether the city and the mayor are actively encouraging other companies to follow Amazon’s lead, and abandon remote and hybrid work policies in favor of return to office, McIntyre said companies will make their own decisions based on “how the Amazon experiment is working.”
“I think they’re all keenly watching it. A number of companies are looking at more days a week,” he said, without naming anyone specific. “Again, that is exciting for all the small businesses downtown. I think it’s exciting for the potential for more nightlife activities coming up downtown.”
McIntyre said small businesses are reporting more demand for lunch and “services,” particularly on Mondays and Fridays.
Some Amazon employees aren’t as thrilled with the new RTO policy and have expressed less glowing reviews of the order as they cope with the loss of remote flexibility and a return to time-consuming commutes in heavy traffic.
The health of downtown is also a key driver in whether Seattle can attract entrepreneurs and companies from elsewhere in the country to relocate or set up satellite operations in the city, where vacancy rates last year surpassed 30% in downtown Seattle.
McIntyre said Mayor Bruce Harrell and other city officials visited Silicon Valley in October “with the intent of telling our story, really being proactive with the strong economic fundamentals that we still have in the city, the trajectory that downtown is on and the opportunity that we see to build and grow companies here in Seattle.”
Attracting out-of-towners doesn’t come at the expense of helping to build homegrown companies, McIntyre stressed. The city has been in involved in a number of new incubator projects that utilize available downtown space, including the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub, an “AI House,” and the M5 Creative Building for film and other creative productions.
The hope, McIntyre added, is that Seattle can “rebuild an economy that is more equitable, more inclusive and more prosperous.”
