"Amazon takes another major step to abandon Seattle" (AMZN)

Sooner or later the politicians in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago and the rest of the northern cities are going to realize they've destroyed the goose that laid the golden eggs and in particular the last two cities, that they have been coasting on the fumes of past glory.
But the realization will come too late.

From MyNorthwest (KTTH Radio 770 Seattle), September 10:

Tech giant Amazon is taking additional steps to abandon Seattle, choosing not to renew its lease for the top eight floors of an office building in South Lake Union. The space reportedly totals over 180,000 square feet.

An Amazon source tells the Jason Rantz Show of the decision to abandon the space at 2201 Westlake. (Update: Amazon confirms to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that they are leaving this property in December of this year.)

Citing three sources, the Puget Sound Business Journal first confirmed the details.
Rumors have swirled that moves like this were going to happen, but few predicted it would happen this quickly. And, a source suggests more actions by Amazon may happen in the coming months.

Amazon’s slow farewell to Seattle
Amazon, which leases over six million square feet of office space in Seattle, recently announced another significant move. In addition to the 15,000 previously announced jobs, Amazon said it will be bringing another 10,000 jobs to Bellevue....

....MORE

If interested see also:
May 2018
Gillian Tett: "Tech lessons from Amazon’s battle in Seattle" (AMZN)

There are a lot of moving parts in this story.

The rising use of opioids and all the other predisposing factors that culminate in homelessness combined with the hollowing-out of the middle-class/economic stratification seen in boom cities, San Francisco, London, Seattle et al combined with local policy/politics which in Seattle means the spendthrift city council juxtaposed with Amazon's strategy of not having taxable income and Chairman Bezos' spearheading the fight against the Washington state 2010 personal income tax measure along with house price increases that guarantee a permanent underclass that will never get on the first rung of the inter-generational wealth building ladder, which price increases are caused in great part by city and regional policy against "sprawl" and well, it's complicated....

March 2019
"Seattle Is Dying"
November 2019
"Big Tech’s battle with Seattle is just getting started — and it could have implications nationwide" (AMZN; MSFT; EXPE)
Microsoft is in Redmond but close enough....

August 2020
"Palantir and Amazon pick Denver"
Not Portland or Minneapolis?
Sarcasm aside, I'm starting to think Bezos is fed up with Seattle....

And many more, use the 'search blog' box upper left if desirous of the whole schmear.