Amazon is Selling Its 29-Acre Bay Area Property as Return to Office Stalls

Amazon is "selling a vacant Bay Area office complex purchased about 16 months ago," reports Bloomberg, "the company's latest effort to unwind a pandemic-era expansion that left it with a surfeit of warehouses and employees."Amazon in October 2021 paid $123 million for the 29-acre property in Milpitas, California, part of a strategy to lock up real estate near big cities that could be used for new warehouses and facilitate future growth.... Amazon is expected to take a loss on the sale of the Metro Corporate Center, according to one person familiar with the terms of the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.... Amazon last year began its biggest-ever round of job cuts that will ultimately affect 18,000 workers around the globe. The world's largest e-commerce company, which is scheduled to report earnings on Feb. 2, warned investors that fourth-quarter sales growth would be the slowest in its history. SFGate writes that the possible sale "is indicative of broader trends in Bay Area corporate real estate, which has struggled with remote work, tech layoffs and broader economic shifts." "According to a report by commercial real estate firm Kidder Mathews, direct office vacancies in San Francisco rose to more than 18.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, while a Kastle Systems report found that office occupancy rates rose to 41.8%, just 1% higher than the rates in September 2022."

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