Amazon is finally graduating from rented space in Crystal City, Virginia, with the official opening Monday of its two Metropolitan Park office towers in Pentagon City.
The opening comes nearly five years after the digital giant chose Northern Virginia for HQ2, and committed to creating 25,000 jobs by 2030.
Construction of Metropolitan Park started in early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The construction project includes more than 2.1 million square feet.
The two 22-story buildings are named Jasper and Merlin.
Amazon names all of its buildings after key moments in the company’s evolution. Jasper was the code name used for a project to enhance the customer experience for Alexa. Merlin was the codename for QuickSight, an Amazon Web Services product.
Amazon has more than 8,000 employees in Northern Virginia now. It did not immediately say how many of those would be moving to Metropolitan Park, or when.
Met Park includes a 2.5 acre public park. Crews planted more than 175 trees as part of the development. Met Park also includes public art installations, walking paths and a children’s garden and play area. Amazon has signed leases with 14 local businesses for the retail space, the first of which, District Dogs, opened this month.
Both buildings have rooftop gardens.
Metropolitan Park is one of two Amazon HQ2 campuses being developed by JBG Smith. In March, Amazon announced it was delaying continued construction of the second campus, PenPlace.
