(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it would push back the start of construction for the next phase of its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
A spokesperson for the company, responding to media reports on the construction delay, said the first phase – Met Park – is due to be completed in June and will have a capacity of 14,000 employees.
Amazon already has 8,000 employees working out of ‘HQ2’.
The company had earlier said it was committed to creating 25,000 jobs and investing $2.5 billion in the region over the next decade.
“We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit,” said John Schoettler, Amazon’s real estate chief.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would eliminate more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed.
The delay in construction would not mean any elimination in jobs, Amazon said.
(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
