Amazon’s putting the construction of its second headquarters in Virginia on hold as it looks to cut costs across the company, according to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC. While Amazon’s still expected to complete the first phase of its headquarters this June, the company’s pausing work on the larger portion of the project located across the street.
Amazon suspends Virginia HQ2 construction in latest cost-cutting move


The company’s Arlington, Virginia-based headquarters, dubbed HQ2, is supposed to consist of two parts: Metropolitan Park, an “urban campus” capable of housing 25,000 workers, and PenPlace, a complex with three 22-story buildings and a corkscrew-shaped glass tower standing 350 feet tall. PenPlace, the second phase of the project, is the portion affected by the delay.
John Schoettler, Amazon’s head of real estate, confirmed the move in a statement to Bloomberg and CNBC. “We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees,” Shoettler explains. “And since Met[tropolitan] Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace out a bit.” It’s still not clear how long Amazon will pause construction, and the company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Amazon just had one of its least profitable quarters in years
The first phase’s June opening coincides with the company’s plans to bring workers back to the office for three days per week in May. According to Bloomberg, Amazon told Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey that it “would proceed this year with permitting on the second phase of HQ2,” which indicates it could kick off construction on the second phase next year.
“Our second headquarters has always been a multiyear project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater Capital Region,” Schoettler tells Bloomberg.
Amazon decided to plant its sprawling headquarters in Northern Virginia in 2019 after facing massive pushback from New York residents and local lawmakers on its proposed HQ2 plans in Long Island City, Queens. Virginia offered Amazon up to $750 million in incentives to build its headquarters in the state, with Amazon saying at the time it would invest over $2.5 billion to build its campus, “driving the creation of thousands of indirect jobs in construction, building services, hospitality and other services industries across the region.”
The halt in construction comes as yet another cost-cutting measure for Amazon, which consolidated its hardware and services teams last November and laid off over 18,000 workers in January. This past quarter, Amazon reported better net sales during the holidays, but still had one of its least profitable quarters in years. It earned $0.3 billion for the quarter, down from $14.3 billion at the same time in 2021, and posted its first net loss since 2014 at $2.7 billion.
But pausing the HQ2 project isn’t all the company’s doing to curtail expenses.
CNBC reports that Amazon’s also shutting down eight of its physical Go convenience stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco. Amazon first announced that it would shutter some of its physical stores during its earnings call in February, while CEO Andy Jassy indicated that Amazon will also slow the expansion of its Fresh supermarkets until it finds a format that “resonates with customers.”
“Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way,” Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin tells CNBC. “In this case, we’ve decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco. We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the U.S., and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.”
Amazon’s putting the construction of its second headquarters in Virginia on hold as it looks to cut costs across the company, according to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC. While Amazon’s still expected to complete the first phase of its headquarters this June, the company’s pausing work on the larger portion…
Recent Posts
- Elon Musk says Grok 2 is going open source as he rolls out Grok 3 for Premium+ X subscribers only
- FTC Chair praises Justice Thomas as ‘the most important judge of the last 100 years’ for Black History Month
- HP acquires Humane AI assets and the AI pin will suffer a humane death
- HP acquires Humane AI assets and the AI pin may suffer a humane death
- HP acquires Humane Ai and gives the AI pin a humane death
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010