REI’s Seattle location. (Getty Images)
With many businesses in Washington unsure when to return employees to office routes, REI has presumably opted to sell its Bellevue headquarters.
Seattle Council tackles landmark proposal for large corporate tax
The company has employed all 1,200 of its headquarters employees since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s unclear when they will return to a personal setting, but if they do, REI plans to distribute them across a handful of smaller sites across the Seattle area.
“The dramatic events of 2020 have challenged us to re-examine and rethink all aspects of our business and many of the assumptions of the past,” REO President and CEO Eric Artz told staff in a video call that first reported was published by the Seattle Times.
REI’s eight-acre Bellevue campus has never really accommodated the company’s employees, having only recently entered the final stages of construction in the city’s 36-acre development in Spring District. According to the Times, there are ‘multiple interested parties’ looking to buy the space, including Facebook. The social media giant already has other leases in the Spring District, covering 325,000 square feet of office space in Block 6 of the complex, 338,000 square feet in Block 16, and 200,000 square feet in Block 24.
Block 16 will complete construction and open in 2020, while Block 24 is planned for 2021. By 2023, Facebook will be completely relocated in its already leased Spring District buildings.
Tip: It’s time to stop holding Amazon Seattle hostage
This is all because many tech companies have re-evaluated their working verbs remotely amid the ongoing pandemic. Amazon recently extended its work-from-home fees through the remainder of 2020, following suit with similar policies from both Facebook and Google.
REI has not yet intimidated what its own plans for remote workers will be, but a spokeswoman told the Seattle Times that the company’s goal is to “provide maximum flexibility so employees can handle our physical office space in any way for them” works. ”
.
