Metropolitan Park

Metropolitan Park is a 2,100,000-square-foot office development for Amazon's Virginia headquarters. The two, 22-story office buildings include 65,000 square feet of street-level retail, new and renovated public spaces, and more than a half-mile of protected bike lanes. The property also features green roofs, electric vehicle charging stations, and greywater and heat exchange systems.

A World-Class Space for Amazonians and the Community

Metropolitan Park is home to a new 2.5-acre public space that features a dog park, recreation areas, seasonal weekend farmers markets, and more. Thoughtfully designed with more than 175 native trees and plantings, Metropolitan Park offers walking paths and places to relax. The park also includes public art installations, a children’s garden, and a play area.

Beyond the open space, the ground floor of each office tower is open to the public and features 50,000 square feet of retail space for local small businesses. Meeting centers, including a 700-person event space, are also available for community events.

The project is an important first step in creating Amazon’s vision for a vibrant urban district where Amazon employees and the local community can live, work, and play.

Setting a Green Building Standard

Metropolitan Park sets an exemplary standard for green building as part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge commitment to meet net zero carbon by 2040 and 100% renewable energy use by 2030. Constructed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, Metropolitan Park runs with zero operational carbon emissions and is powered by 100% renewable energy. Sustainable elements – such as sunshades, operable windows, low-flow fixtures, gas appliances, on-site bicycle storage, and outdoor terraces with native vegetation – are woven throughout the buildings.

To reduce embodied carbon, the team worked with concrete experts to devise a solution to build the concrete structures using low-carbon mixtures and incorporated CarbonCure, a process that introduces recycled carbon dioxide into fresh concrete to reduce its carbon footprint without compromising performance. The approach exceeded expectations, ultimately achieving at least a 15% reduction in embodied carbon in the concrete throughout the project over the baseline for the region.

During the project, 82% of all construction waste was diverted from landfills, including concrete, drywall, metals, wood, cardboard, and plastic, keeping more than 17,000 tons of material from entering landfills.

Being a Great Neighbor

Located in the heart of the bustling National Landing neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, Metropolitan Park is surrounded by thousands of community members who lived just steps from the jobsite. Constructed at the height of COVID-19 when stay-at-home orders were issued, Clark and Amazon were mindful of minimizing disruption to neighbors now working from home each day. From groundbreaking through the grand opening, Clark worked closely with Amazon to deploy an intentional community engagement strategy to ensure transparency throughout the construction process, foster two-way communication with project neighbors, and cultivate excitement for the project as it took shape.

Clark communicated progress with nearby stakeholders through weekly neighborhood email updates and monthly property managers' meetings, managed truck traffic to minimize traffic impacts, and adjusted work times to be mindful of noise impacts. When pile driving work was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, the team celebrated with the community by sending cookies to the neighbors.