Amazon Expands Boston Tech Hub

111 Harbor Way

WS Development has fully opened its 525,000-square-foot mixed-use building at 111 Harbor Way in Boston. The developer marked the milestone by officially welcoming Amazon, its anchor tenant, which is fully leasing the 430,000-square-foot office segment of the 17-story tower in the Boston Seaport Innovation District.

In 2019, WS Development broke ground on the high-rise and later secured a $435 million construction loan originated by Citizens Financial Group for the development, CommercialEdge data shows.

Designed by Gensler, the office tower also includes innovation labs as well as mixed-use shared areas and 81,000 square feet of retail space across two stories. Tenant amenities include open-air balconies on alternating levels and the Paseo, an indoor public promenade.

The more than 2,000 Amazon employees within the building, which is targeting LEED Gold certification, will work in a variety of departments, such as Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Alexa, Amazon Devices as well as Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing services subsidiary.

Amazon expansion plans

Continuing its partnership with WS Development, Amazon will also anchor the Henning Larsen-designed building adjacent to 111 Harbor Way. The tenant will fully occupy the 630,000-square-foot office portion of the 17-story tower totaling 707,000 square feet at 1 Boston Wharf Road.

Based on CommercialEdge data, last September Wells Fargo Bank provided a $735 million construction loan for the mixed-use tower, which is expected to be delivered in 2024.

The tech giant has expansion plans in other metros as well. By mid-2023, Amazon plans to create more than 2,500 jobs along with leasing more than 400,000 square feet of office space in three Southern California cities.

In March, Amazon completed the highest floors of the initial phase of HQ2 in Arlington, Va. The 22-story office towers encompassing 2.1 million square feet are anticipated to come online in 2023.