Amazon to spend $1b on HQ
AMAZON.com Inc said on Friday it will spend over $1 billion to buy its Seattle corporate headquarters in what will be the United States' biggest commercial real estate deal so far this year for a single location.
The world's largest Internet retailer plans to buy a complex of 11 buildings in the trendy South Lake Union area, comprising 1.8 million square feet of office space, for $1.16 billion from Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen's investment firm.
Based on the value of the deal, Amazon is paying the highest ever price for an office building over 100,000 square feet in Seattle at around $644 per square foot. That is more than double the average rate of $308 per square foot for the city's office space, according to Real Capital Analytics.
Amazon has been leasing the properties and it may make more economic sense for it to buy the location in the current low-interest environment and gain more control over its HQ, analysts said.
Read more at The Huffington Post
