Amazon.com Inc. has opened offices at the former Lord & Taylor building in midtown Manhattan, more than three years after purchasing the property.
The Seattle-based e-commerce company built out offices for more than 2,000 employees at 424 Fifth Ave., unveiling the new space at a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday. Amazon bought the property for about $1 billion in March 2020, right as Covid hit and shuttered offices across the city.
“We purposely invest in urban cores where our employees can work, live, eat, shop and play and support local small businesses, rather than building a closed-off remote campus,” said John Schoettler, vice president of global real estate and facilities at Amazon.
The building, which is landmarked, kept some original designs from the Lord & Taylor era, including terracotta tiles and paneling from a castle in Scotland. The cafe area features seating within a “bird cage” sculpture, an homage to the department store’s former restaurant and tea room. The site will include retail space on the ground floor.
Amazon partnered with City University of New York to provide 1,500 square feet (140 square meters) of space for associated colleges to hold events and classes.
Previously, WeWork owned the building and had planned to use it as its headquarters before the company scrapped an initial public offering.
Amazon has been asking workers to be in the office at least three days a week, and recently sought to crack down on US employees who were ignoring those guidelines.
Many technology companies have also sought to tweak their office footprints, including pulling back on some planned expansions, as economic uncertainty loomed and firms embarked on mass layoffs.
