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It already had a lot of offices and data centers in the region, but the ecommerce giant chose Arlington's Crystal City neighborhood (along with Queens, New York) as one of two locations for its "HQ2" expansion.
Crystal City isn't one of Arlington County's most trafficked areas. It's a sleepy, mostly office-and-hotel neighborhood, separated from the more residential and livable parts of the area by a giant, eight-lane highway.
Crystal City is also very close to the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters.
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Many Northern Virginians have never really explored the Crystal City area, unless they work in the area or serve in the military. For most locals, it's a place you drive through on the way to Reagan National Airport.
So one day last week, I spent a day checking out the properties that Amazon has committed to either lease or buy, and imagined what life could be like for the 25,000 employees Amazon plans to hire over the next decade.
Amazon has locked down two large plots of land in Pentagon City and three existing buildings in the Crystal City and Pentagon City area in Arlington, Virginia. The orange dots are where Amazon will build offices.
It's tucked between Interstate 395, Reagan National Airport, and the Pentagon. Here's the view of DC from Crystal City across a lot of lanes of traffic.
The entire neighborhood is organized around Route 1, which is regrettably named "Jefferson Davis Highway," after the Confederate general.
A lot of the area is administered and leased by JBG Smith, a big Washington, DC, real estate investment trust.
Three of Amazon's office locations are clustered near the Crystal City Metro station.
One building, at 241 18th Street, is mostly occupied, but has 76,000 square feet available.
When we visited, its first floor had been transformed into a showcase and co-working center of sorts.
Here's a look at that building from a distance.
There was heavy revitalization branding all over the neighborhood.
In fact, the whole neighborhood seems to be buzzing about Amazon.
Across the street from the metro stop, at 1800 Bell Street, there is an entire vacant building, except for the first few floors. JBG has filed permits for interior demolition.
This building also happened to have a lot of Crystal City branding — "Good Things Coming" seemed to be the slogan.
Eventually, the entire building will be demolished, JBG told the Washington Business Journal. Here's what the new building could look like.
Amazon also leased an entire building about five minutes away from the Metro stop, at 1750 Crystal Drive.
There's a public park across the street from that location with chairs, chess, and even a ping-pong table. There's also an entrance to some trails for biking or running.
There are built-in ping-pong tables surrounding the area as well.
Amazon has also purchased two big plots of land north of Crystal City, in an adjacent neighborhood called Pentagon City.
The 10-acre site, named "Pen Place," can have 2.1 million square feet built on it, including residential properties. Here's what it looks like right now.
Here's what the developer thinks it could look like one day.
Of course, there's a Whole Foods across the street.
There are deals for Prime members at the relatively new Whole Foods.
When the development is finished, people on the upper floors will probably be able to see the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial from their windows.
The site is also within walking distance from the Pentagon — although you have to walk under a busy highway.
Amazon also bought two undeveloped parcels a block or so south of Pen Place, in part of a development called Metropolitan Park.
The development already includes several large apartment buildings, including the largest apartment buildings in Arlington County, Virginia.
But right now, here's what the sites look like. It's assumed that Amazon will build offices here.
Amazon could ask the county to allow it to replace planned residential space with office space, limiting the housing stock and potentially causing prices to go up.
There are a number of apartment buildings in the area.
At one, a broker told me that monthly prices start at $1,600 for a "junior" one-bedroom with 628 square feet of living space — but she expects that prices will go up as Amazon moves in.
"With the news that Amazon is coming, get in now!" she said.
The neighborhood seems like it could certainly support 25,000 office workers, but housing may be a problem. One of the original architects of the neighborhood told the Washington Post that there was "intense pressure to emphasize office use at the expense of apartments or commercial use."
The neighborhood started to be developed in the early 1960s.
In the years since, Crystal City has traditionally been known as a mostly commercial neighborhood near the Pentagon.
There is a heavy defense contractor and military service member presence around the area — Booz Allen, General Dynamics, and Boeing all have nearby offices.
There are also a ton of obscure government agencies and offices around the neighborhood.
The neighborhood's defining feature is the Crystal City Shops, an underground mall and set of passages connecting pretty much every building in the area.
Little entrances to the underground mall are tucked away everywhere.
In fact, there's a direct entrance to the underground passages directly from the Metro, so future Amazon employees might not even need to go above ground to get to work.
Here's a map of the underground mall.
Still, it is very easy to get lost in the labyrinth.
The tunnels are filled with lunch spots, convenience stores, and places to sit down.
There's a nice little food court area near one of Amazon's future offices called "The Landing."
But there are also a ton of empty storefronts ...
... a lot of empty storefronts.
Many stores had signs posted that they had moved out earlier this year, in July.
Aside from the underground mall, a top draw for the neighborhood is how accessible it is.
If you're arriving by car from south of DC, you can take I-95 or I-395. If you're coming from the west, you're on route 66. If you're coming from Montgomery County, or Bethesda though, your route will take you through Washington, DC.
National Airport is also nearby.
There's some street parking, but not a ton. There's plenty of underground parking, but you'll have to pay.
If you're an Amazon worker and you don't want to drive, you're going to be on the Blue or Yellow Metro lines, baby!
Here is the escalator down to your likely Metro stop. There's also a Pentagon City stop not too far away.
So if you live in Fairfax County (Orange Line) or Bethesda (Red Line), you'll probably have to transfer.
All of Amazon's sites are within walking distance from this stop — some are even across the street. But if you need a ride, there are scooters nearby.
There's also a bikeshare on the corner ...
... and a ton of bus stops.
It's easy to see why Amazon picked Crystal City.
It's urban, but very accessible for car-oriented older people who might want to live in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs around DC.
But younger people who want to live close to work may be disappointed — it's not really a trendy neighborhood.
It's also close to what some have called the "bullseye of America's internet."
Further out into the Virginia suburbs are some of Amazon's biggest data centers. Some estimates have said 70% of the world's internet traffic flows through these data centers in Fairfax and Loudon counties. Northern Virginia has deep tech roots.
"Internet Alley" is a great read if you're interested in the history of how defense technology birthed internet infrastructure that's still in use in Arlington and Fairfax county.
Amazon has 30 data centers in the area — and so do Equinix, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and other big companies. They're all within a 15-minute drive of Northern Virginia. Well, if there's traffic, it might take longer.
And traffic and housing costs could get way worse if Amazon starts adding thousands of jobs per year, as it's expected to.
Amazon is also participating in a rebrand of the area from "Crystal City" to "National Landing." That might be difficult, considering how much around the area is labeled.
Amazon won't fully move in for many years. So it remains to be seen whether the influx of high-paid workers can change the area across the Potomac River from DC.
