Amazon has submitted plans for the final piece of its future home in Arlington County.
The newly proposed center of Amazon HQ2’s second and largest footprint in Arlington County looks like the type of building you can find at the end of the yellowstone road. The spiral building of glass and green is futuristically and giggly called ‘The Helix’, and will be the focal point of the new PenPlace development on the corner of 12th Street South and South Eads Street.
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Amazon is submitting plans for four new buildings and nearby spaces on Tuesday, hoping to get approval by the end of the year.
In a statement, Amazon says that The Helix ‘will include a hill climb that will allow people to traverse the entire height of the building and a variety of spaces for individual work and teamwork or recreation. will be open to the public every month, select certain weekends. “
If approved, The Helix will be the tallest building on HQ2, which is 350 feet long.
Photos: Amazon submits plans for HQ2’s new 350-foot center in Arlington County
There are plans for three 22-story buildings with 2.8 million square feet of office space to surround The Helix.
“We have designed a workspace for our employees that will prioritize areas for collaboration, natural light and continuous interaction with nature,” Amazon said of the office space.
While the image of the proposed buildings is striking, Amazon stressed that the design is meant to reflect a sense of community, which they say is reflected in the flow and features at ground level.
Arlington looks forward to embarking on a thorough community appraisal process … where neighbors and stakeholders will have the opportunity to review design concepts in more detail and provide opportunities for input.
Matt de Ferranti, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Arlington County
PenPlace plans to include open ground floor spaces covering more than 2.5 acres and accessible for public use. It includes an amphitheater in the direction of a central green area to accommodate outdoor concerts, farmers markets and movies in the park. There is also a bush forest area and walking area.
There are plans for retail pavilions and restaurants, a child care center, a dog track and a food truck area with seating outside in the buildings.
One thing you will not see at PenPlace: parking garages.
Amazon is proposing underground parking garages and underground access for trucks that it hopes will restrict traffic in an area that many people in Arlington County said should be more pedestrian-friendly.
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“Receiving the submission of today’s website plan is the beginning of the public review of the next phase of Amazon’s HQ2. Arlington looks forward to embarking on a thorough community assessment process – as we do with all proposed developments of the site plan – where neighbors and stakeholders will have the opportunity to review design concepts in more detail and provide opportunities for input, ” Matt de Ferranti, chairman of the Arlington County Board of Supervisors, said: “We expect the process to be before the Provincial Planning Commission and the County Board by the end of the year.”
Amazon said their new buildings were “designed to be LEED Platinum, the highest certification for sustainable development issued by the U.S. Green Building Council. The project also includes an electric central heating and cooling system that operates at 100% Renewable energy from a solar farm in Pittsylvania County, southern Virginia, in partnership with Arlington County, which would be in line with Amazon’s Climate Pledge to be carbon net by 2040 and Arlington and Amazon’s joint commitment to leaders in the fight against to promote climate change. “
Amazon hopes Arlington County will approve PenPlace’s development plans later this year. Construction would begin immediately and is expected to be completed in 2025.