Alaska Airlines celebrated the groundbreaking for a new 128,000 square foot corporate office building in SeaTac on Thursday morning. The new building, referred to as “The Hub,” will serve as the campus center for the surrounding Alaska Airlines headquarters, Alaska’s training center, and the Horizon Air offices along International Boulevard.
The building will be built on a 6.8 acre lot where the now unoccupied Sandstone Airport Inn currently sits. Plans for the project include a ground level parking lot, a four-story parking garage, as well as a six-story building with open concept work spaces, meeting rooms, a company store, and space for recruiting.
“On this site, we plan to construct an office building that will bring hundreds of employees that are scattered across several locations across SeaTac together to better serve our frontline employees,” said Andy Schneider, Vice President of People at Alaska Airlines during the groundbreaking event. “On this site we are going to build a modern building for our modern workforce. It will feature open workspaces, greater collaboration, and better productivity.”
Also speaking at the event were several local legislators and politicians. In a time where Washington businesses are looking to expand elsewhere, Governor Inslee, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and SeaTac Mayor Michael Siefkes all focused their remarks on Alaska’s commitment to continue to grow and develop in Washington.
“We are so proud that Alaska decided to expand here in our city,” said Mayor Siefkes. “We are at a time and place where there are a lot of choices. Amazon’s looking for a new headquarters and are scouring the country, Alaska could have done the same thing. They could have relocated anywhere, near any airport in the country, and they decided to stay here and expand here and I appreciate that very much.”
“Alaska understands what the rest of the world understands,” said Governor Inslee. “CNBC, just a few months ago, said that Washington State is the best place to do business in the United States. Alaska, I think, believes that too, and I want to thank you for that vote of confidence. This is a vote of confidence in the state of Washington.”
Prior to digging their shovels into the dirt, Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden, also spoke of Alaska’s commitment to keeping their roots and their future in Washington.
“To me this building says that we are Seattle, we love Seattle, we are literally planting a stake in the ground saying we love this place and this is our future.”
Demolition on the site is currently underway and construction is scheduled to begin July 2018. The office is expected to be completed by early 2020.
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