December 18, 2018 Comments (0) Views: 7050 Innovation, Real Estate, Web

Inside Amazon’s new UTC-area hub

The tech giant’s new 85,000-square-foot office is sunny, open, and so San Diego

Amazon—it’s everywhere. The books, music, movies, and TV shows it markets online can be seen or listened to on Amazon-powered devices. Via Echo, Alexa can do anything from tell you a joke or a bedtime story to call your friends or order paper towels (seriously, ask her to beatbox). Amazon delivers groceries and restaurant fare to our doors. You can even save a few bucks by using an Amazon Prime Visa. And its cloud computing services are used by individuals, companies, and research institutions around the world.

The Seattle-based tech giant has 18 hubs around the country, including one right here in San Diego. Over the years, Amazon’s local presence has gone from a handful of employees in an office in Solana Beach to an 85,000-square-foot office in the UTC area with room for 500 so-called Amazonians. The sunny space in the modern, glass-front Campus Pointe development is industrial chic with an open floor plan, glass-paneled conference rooms, and spacious cubicles with whiteboard walls. Engineers and other employees have ergonomic desks, plenty of space to collaborate, and phone booths they can duck into for a private call. And, surely a perk for pet-owning Amazonians—it’s dog-friendly.

This is where the magic happens. Amazon is bolstering San Diego’s tech sector with its new office in the Golden Triangle. Here, employees focus on software development, machine learning, cloud computing, digital entertainment, fraud prevention, and more.

Workers can take a load off in style. Even the engineers behind AmazonFresh, Prime Now, Amazon Web Services, and Amazon Fashion need a break sometimes. A cozy kitchen complete with a coffee and tea station and a couple kegerators is sure to do the trick.

San Diego’s unique character is reflected throughout. Relief-style murals feature stylized maps of iconic neighborhoods, like Downtown and Pacific Beach. Its conference rooms pay tribute to one of the things the city is known for—craft beer. Each is named for a local brewery.

Amazon attracts local tech talent. The San Diego hub was the brainchild of Nate Wiger, now its GM. He saw all the great talent coming from his alma mater UC San Diego and nearby UC Irvine and thought the company would miss out if it didn’t invest here.