Amazon HQ2 PenPlace and The Helix
PenPlace, off Army Navy Drive, National Landing, Arlington, VA 22202 approximate location
The Helix was designed as the showpiece of Amazon's second HQ2 phase, a spiraling glass workplace with an interior nature walk. Arlington County approved PenPlace in 2022, but Amazon paused the phase before vertical construction. In June 2026, the company was reported to be considering temporary uses for the vacant site rather than restarting the approved build.
What got built
This photograph was verified against the project and published with recorded first-party, public-domain, or reusable-license rights. How the visual evidence works.
What changed
- The Arlington County Board approved PenPlace in April 2022, including three 22-story office buildings, a meeting center and The Helix, a roughly 350-foot glass double-helix structure with landscaped interior paths.
- The FAA completed its evaluation of The Helix on November 26, 2021 and found that it would not pose a hazard to air traffic near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
- Amazon announced in March 2023 that it was pausing PenPlace, saying its completed Met Park phase had capacity for more than 14,000 employees.
- The Arlington County Board later extended the deadline to act on the approved site plan to June 30, 2028; the extension did not establish a construction restart date.
- In June 2026, Amazon was reported to be exploring temporary uses for the still-vacant PenPlace site.
- As of August 11, 2026, no vertical construction restart for PenPlace or The Helix had been verified.
Why it changed
Amazon said its existing Met Park campus, the first phase of HQ2, had enough space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, and it decided to push PenPlace's groundbreaking out rather than build immediately. The pause coincided with company-wide layoffs affecting tens of thousands of positions and a broader slowdown in Amazon's post-pandemic office growth. Source: WJLA, Amazon pauses construction on next phase of HQ2 in Arlington, Mar 2023; ARLnow, Amazon gets extended deadline to build next phase of HQ2, Jun 24, 2025.
Details
- Status
- Announced and rendered. No construction, no cancellation.
- Where
- Arlington, VA
- Neighborhood
- National Landing (Crystal City / Pentagon City)
- Developer
- Amazon, with JBG Smith
- Architect
- NBBJ (design architect for PenPlace and The Helix)
- Rendering credit
- Amazon
- The built result
- Photographed by KartaView contributor 13067, 2022-01-22 18:16:41.000
Sources
- WJLA: Amazon pauses construction on HQ2 phase two, including the Helix wjla.com
- ARLnow: Amazon gets extended deadline to build next phase of HQ2 arlnow.com
- Washington Business Journal: Amazon explores temporary PenPlace uses (June 2026) bizjournals.com
- NBBJ: Amazon HQ2 PenPlace and The Helix nbbj.com
Research checked . Status and figures are updated when a source changes.
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