(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. is temporarily closing a downtown Seattle office so employees don’t have to travel to an area that’s seen a spate of shootings, carjackings and other violent crimes.
“Given recent incidents near 3rd and Pine, we’re providing employees currently at that location with alternative office space elsewhere,” the company told staff in an email viewed by Bloomberg. “We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will be able to bring employees back to this location when it is safe to do so.”
The office at 300 Pine St. is about three blocks from Pike Place Market, a popular Seattle tourist destination. Since Feb. 21, there have been at least three shootings, two stabbings and one carjacking in the area, according to information from the Seattle Police Department’s Twitter account.
Last week, Mayor Bruce Harrell, flanked by law enforcement and local prosecutorial officials, talked about cracking down on crime in city “hot spots,” including the blocks around the Amazon office. Harrell said he would put a mobile police precinct at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street.
Amazon didn’t disclose precisely how many workers would be relocated. The office is a small one about a half-mile from the company’s main headquarters on Seventh Avenue.
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