At their meeting on Saturday, April 23, the Arlington County Board unanimously approved Phase 2 of Amazon’s HQ2, known as PenPlace. Construction is set to begin this fall on the 10.4 acre site.
“The opportunity to not only provide something exciting for the near neighborhoods, but to lift up the entirety of Arlington County, makes this project a joy to support,” said Board chair Katie Cristol at the board meeting.
Phase 2 plans to include a new 3.2 million square feet of office space and around 94,500 square feet of retail space at the long-abandoned corner of S. Eads Street and 12th Street S. in Arlington. The space will be spread along three new 22-story, renewable energy-powered buildings.
Phase 2 also includes the shining jewel of Amazon’s HQ2 project—The Helix, a tree-covered, 350-foot-tall glass spiral. The outside mountain climb on the building will be open twice a month for visitors and will provide alternate working spaces for employees among the greenery.
The new PenPlace will feature 2.75 acres of public park space with immersive forest rooms, shaded seating groves, water features, and multiple gardens.
“We will plant more than 100 native plant species and over 500 new trees throughout the site—all inspired by the natural ecosystems of the surrounding region,” said Amazon in a statement on April 23.
This phase also brings a 15,000-square-foot public childcare facility, as well as a permanent home for Arlington Community High School, with a 300-student capacity.
The plans to begin building Phase 2 come as construction for Phase 1, also known as Metropolitan Park, is underway just south of PenPlace, at the corner of 13th Street S. and S. Eads Street.
On track to be completed in 2023, Metropolitan Park features two 22-story buildings, with space for 12,500 employees. Other additions include an underground parking garage, a daycare center, street level retail space (including green space and an outdoor cafe), and a new 14th Street S. and E. Elm Street.
While most of the almost two dozen speakers at the Arlington County board meeting touted the opportunity that the new Amazon HQ2 brings to the region (some 25,000 expected jobs over the next ten years included), not everyone was supportive.
Anne Bodine of Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future, a community group concerned with rapid growth in the county, spoke at the meeting, saying that the county is not funding community improvements, such as parks and stormwater projects.
“This is not sustainable for our community, whether it’s diversity, environmental viability, or financial solvency we are seeking,” Bodine said at the meeting.
Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey responded to ASF’S claims, saying the community group didn’t account for the future macroeconomic benefits that Arlington will reap from PenPlace.
“This is a complex conversation. We don’t expect that everyone would fully get and absorb this; that’s why I am happy to engage with people on it,” Dorsey said. “But it also kind of underscores why we don’t have these conversations fully in the public.”
Ben D’Avanzo of the Aurora Highlands Civic Association raised concerns about who the expansive Amazon site will benefit: Arlington locals or Amazon employees.
“Amazon will use its park as a recruitment and branding tool,” D’Avanzo said. “It’s hard to feel like this park is truly the community benefit this site plan makes it out to be.”
D’Avanzo also raised concerns about potential surveillance in the supposedly public park area by Amazon.
“If this park is going to be patrolled by private security or observed by security cameras that can track the identity of every user, that is a major chilling effect on free public use,” he said.
Amazon and PenPlace representatives present at the meeting clarified that surveillance for security would only take place in office buildings, parking garages, and immediately outside of office buildings.
Questions about how PenPlace will affect affordable housing in the Arlington area also came up at the meeting. Arlington County Housing Commissioner Michael Herringer explained the concerns of Arlington residents in regards to already rising-housing prices in the Arlington area due to Amazon’s HQ2.
“While we’re confident that this proposal will sail through today, I do ask board members to consider the following: If you have kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews,” Hemminger said, “I’m ultimately asking you to think about how those little ones and those that are not currently in our community, and how they will be able to one day afford to live in this community too.”
Amazon has pledged to contribute $30 million to affordable housing congruent with the PenPlace construction, a move the Arlington County Board has championed as a step in the right direction for housing equity and diversity in the county.
Despite these concerns from community members, Phase 2 of Amazon’s HQ2 is primed to begin construction, with the phase expected to be completed in 2025.
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