Amazon is eyeing an expansion of its corporate operations in Buckhead, according to market sources. It could bring up to 300 jobs.
The global e-commerce and internet services giant is looking for up to three floors and may be targeting Uptown Atlanta, a development at the Lindbergh MARTA station and near a future BeltLine connection, sources say.
The search comes a few months after Amazon expanded its Buckhead office at Terminus 200. That office housed Amazon Web Services, according to previous Atlanta Business Chronicle reporting. Amazon also has a logistics hub at Atlantic Station, according to previous reporting.
It is unclear which division and exactly how many jobs the Buckhead expansion could involve. Amazon did not return repeated requests for comments. The company has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its operations.
Companies allocated approximately 200 square feet per employee in 2020, according to JLL research. If Amazon leases 80,000 square feet — which is about three floors — that could bring up to 300 new jobs.
Amazon has 300 open positions based in Atlanta on its website. Most of those are technology roles. The two divisions with the most open roles are Amazon Web Services and Amazon Entertainment.
AWS is one of Amazon’s fastest-growing divisions, posting $54 billion in annual sales, according to Reuters. The pandemic accelerated the growth of both Amazon’s cloud computing services and its e-commerce business.
Amazon sits at the heart of the two industries driving Atlanta’s job growth — logistics and technology.
Atlanta has a legacy as a center of physical distribution and supply chain and a strong network of logistics tech companies. The industrial market is experiencing a record-setting year. Much of that growth can be attributed to the increase in e-commerce transactions sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Amazon opened at least three facilities in Georgia, including its first robotics fulfillment center in the state. It has seven fulfillment and sortation centers, four delivery stations, 12 Whole Foods Market locations, one tech hub and one Amazon Air hub in the state as of the end of last year.
In the spring, Amazon said it would hire more than 3,800 people in the local area as it expanded operations in the U.S. and Canada. Amazon already employees more than 21,000 employees in Georgia, according to the state.
