Thursday, Amazon.com Inc. announced it intends to add 100,000 jobs across the country throughout the next year and a half. Now, there’s talk that those plans could have an impact on Boston.
According to the Boston Globe, word among Boston commercial realtors is that Amazon wants to lease 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of downtown office space. Real estate sources told the Globe that the company is hoping to nail down a locale by the end of this quarter with plans to open the new office(s) by the end of the year.
Amazon, which is based in Seattle, is no stranger to our metro area. The company already has a growing foothold in Kendall Square, where it has a speech science lab responsible for Alexa’s voice recognition capabilities. This past summer, it expanded into another floor and a half at 101 Main in Cambridge. In total, it now occupies 171,000 square feet of prime Kendall Square space.
In 2012, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, a warehouse robotics startup based in North Reading, Mass. The former Kiva operation is now the core of Amazon Robotics--the rebrand occurred last year.
Nothing has been set in stone yet with regards to its downtown real estate interest. Amazon has yet to come out and discuss its plans for Boston, and sources told the Globe that it could opt to expand its Cambridge presence in lieu of renting space across the river.
