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“We expect to see a decline of about two per cent in (forecasted) vacancy just due to the announcement of Amazon is taking up the 1.13 million square feet of office space within The Post building,” Jamani said.

Once Amazon takes over The Post, it will have a total local office footprint of 1.5 million square feet across several locations, he said. “They’re going to be our largest corporate tenant.”

Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

The Post will be comprised of two office towers and a mixed-use podium and is expected to complete in mid-2023. An estimated 7,000 people can work at the building.

When reached via email, an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the deal, but did confirm that Amazon has leased both towers.

QuadReal did not respond to three requests for comment by deadline.

“It is virtually impossible for me to overstate how significant this is to the Vancouver office market,” said Ross Moore, a tenant leasing specialist with Cresa brokerage house in Vancouver.

He said Amazon’s deal would put the giant’s stamp of approval on the local tech ecosystem.

Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

“With a tech giant like Amazon taking that amount of space, I think most people will now agree, yes, we have that critical mass,” he said. “Once that snowball is rolling, it just keeps going.”

Colin Scarlett, an office specialist with Colliers International in Vancouver, said Vancouver’s relatively low labour costs are one of the main attractants for enormous tech companies like Amazon.

He said real estate only accounts for three to six per cent of a company’s overall operation costs. Salaries typically account for about 70 per cent.