Fair warning: I got a little fired up today. This one runs long. But if you want the short version: Amazon keeps shrinking in Seattle, and Bellevue keeps winning. Mayor Katie Wilson’s tax agenda is just warming up, and Olympia is working on an income tax that could make the whole “just move to Bellevue” strategy a lot less comforting. Now, the long version…
Amazon confirmed this week it won’t renew its lease on a seven-story building just blocks from its Seattle headquarters. There are estimates that roughly 1,500 employees will pack up and move. After May, it’s just another empty building in a city that already has plenty of them.
Not long ago, Seattle was the crane capital of America. Three years running. More construction cranes in the skyline than in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Phoenix combined. You could spin around downtown and count a dozen of them from one spot…