Amazon’s first two office towers are now open at Metropolitan Park, welcoming HQ2 employees to sparkling new digs with lounge-y work areas, rooftop vistas and plenty of greenery. The complex includes a host of amenities for “Amazonians” (as staff are called) as well as the larger community, including a public park and garden, art installations, rooftop dog terraces and 14 new restaurants, services and shops. Here’s a peek inside.
The first two office towers, named “Jasper” and “Merlin”—former code names for Amazon projects—are expected to accommodate some 12,500 employees. Together, the 22-story buildings have more than 2.1 million square feet of office space, four entrances, 62 elevators, 620 bike racks and enough concrete (200,000 cubic yards, to be exact) to fill the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to the tech giant.
“This project is extraordinary in many respects,” Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said in a release. “It will bring us significantly closer to fulfilling the community’s vision of Arlington and National Landing as an urban neighborhood with a better balance of office, residential and retail development, more and better public spaces, and more and better access for pedestrians and cyclists.”
For Amazon employees, the work environment is a far cry from drab cubicles and conference rooms. Modern spaces designed for meetings, informal chats or independent work are concentrated on floors the company is billing as “centers of energy.” Combined, these communal areas will also house eight dining concepts, four coffee shops and three commercial kitchens.
The towers’ ground floor atriums are open to the public, featuring garage-style doors and coffee-shop access. But the buildings’ eateries will have limited capacity by design.
“We designed our [communal] space in our buildings to only be able to handle 30% employee capacity,” Amazon says, “ensuring our employees venture out in the neighborhood to grab a bite, check out a new restaurant or visit a local business.”
Fourteen locally based restaurants, services and shops have signed on to fill retail spaces at Met Park, including Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream and Mae’s Market and Cafe.
Conte’s Bike Shop, District Dogs and an atrium location of Good Company Doughnuts & Cafe are already open. Several other concepts are expected to open within the next month. Many of the tenants are women- and minority-owned businesses.
“I’m thrilled to see Amazon’s Met Park opening,” said Arlington Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Kate Bates. “Amazon is not only stimulating the local economy, but also fostering diversity and inclusivity within the retail industry.”
The complex caters to dogs in a big way, with amenities such as rooftop dog terraces and a ground-level dog run. Inside one of the towers, a “dog wall” displays photos of employees’ dogs with each pet’s name and the pet owner’s job title.
Sustainability is integral to the design. The LEED Platinum-certified complex relies on 100% renewable energy from a Virginia solar farm. The buildings are equipped with low-flow lavatories and other features that conserve, reclaim or recycle water.
Outdoor space figures prominently into Met Park’s architecture, which includes more than 2.7 acres of rooftop landscaping and an urban farm. Nestled between the buildings is a 2.5-acre public park that is now open and home to a dog run, playground, community garden, walking paths, public art installations, a weekend farmers market and more than 160 varieties of native plants.
Construction broke ground at Met Park in 2020. The project has been powered by the labor of more than 7,500 mostly locally based craft workers totaling nearly 5.7 million hours of work, the company says.
Workers commuting to campus have several choices. In addition to more than 600 bike racks, Met Park has a half-mile of new bike lanes, two bicycle repair and wash stations, and shower-equipped locker rooms. Four levels of parking are tucked below the buildings, including 290 charging stations for electric vehicles. The company subsidizes multiple modes of transportation for its corporate employees.