Amazon's proposed HQ looks like a very healthy serving of twirly ice cream

Amazon has unveiled more of its planned second headquarters in northern Virginia, including a plant-filled structure the company is calling the Helix.

The world’s largest online retailer also said it will host 25,000 workers at the site, reaffirming a commitment to eventually bring employees back to the office at a time when the pandemic has many companies reassessing their real estate plans.

Amazon on Tuesday said it had submitted plans for a second phase of development in Arlington County, anchored by 2.8 million square feet of office space in three 22-story buildings. Amazon’s second headquarters, under construction near Washington, will also include 2.5 acres of public space, an amphitheater and the Helix, an alternative workspace that echoes the company’s lush Spheres in hometown Seattle.

“Despite many of our employees working from home at this time, we view our Arlington headquarters as a long-term investment,” John Schoettler, Amazon’s real estate chief, said in a blog post on Tuesday.

After a nationwide search for a new campus to host 50,000 employees that set off a media frenzy, Amazon in late 2018 selected Arlington and New York City. 

Amid an outcry from New York officials over their exclusion from the planning process and criticism of Amazon’s opposition to labor unions, the company retreated from its plans a few months later, saying it would house employees previously bound for that office in satellite workspaces.