Rainier Square became a mixed-use tower with apartments, offices and retail after Amazon said in 2019 that it intended to sublease the office space it had leased. That announcement changed the building’s leasing story; it did not establish that the project failed or that Amazon was leaving Seattle. The tower opened its residences in 2021, while current occupancy, apartment availability and rents are not verified by the sources available.
What Rainier Square is
Rainier Square is a 58-story, 850-foot tower in downtown Seattle, part of a development the project’s official site describes as 1.1 million square feet. The tower combines 734,000 square feet of office space with 189 apartments, plus ground-floor retail. Its office floors sit below the residences, which occupy floors 39 through 58 and are marketed as one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. GeekWire’s 2021 account and the Rainier Square project site describe the scale and uses.
At street level, the project site lists PCC Community Market, Fonté Coffee Roasters and Equinox Fitness among the retail offerings. These are part of the development’s marketed mix, not evidence of current operating status.
Why Amazon planned to sublease the offices
Amazon had leased all of Rainier Square’s office space. In February 2019, the company said it intended to sublease it “based on current plans.” The statement quoted by GeekWire said Amazon was building two million square feet of office space at its South Lake Union campus, was evaluating its space requirements and would continue evaluating future growth. The spokesperson also said the company had more than 9,000 open roles in Seattle.
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Contemporaneous coverage situated the decision amid a dispute over a local business tax and Amazon’s expansion toward Bellevue, but the company’s statement did not identify a single cause. It is more accurate to describe the announcement as a change in Amazon’s plans for this building than as proof the company abandoned Seattle. Amazon’s stated rationale emphasized its construction pipeline and review of space needs.
How the building’s design changed
The tower’s program evolved alongside the market. Architectural Record’s coverage of the NBBJ design says an originally proposed separate 12-story hotel was changed to office floors in 2019. The resulting composition steps from a larger retail podium and office levels to narrower residential floors above, a response to the neighboring Rainier Tower and the project’s mix of uses. Wright Runstad & Company CEO Greg Johnson described the design balance this way: “We weighed those considerations with the expectations for dramatic design, and the need to attract office tenants and residents to premium apartments.”
Rainier Square also used SpeedCore, a composite steel-and-concrete core system developed by the project’s structural engineers. Architectural Record describes two 36,000-gallon water tanks at the top of the tower as tuned liquid mass dampers intended to counter movement caused by wind. These are reported design features, not performance measurements made for this article.
What happened after Amazon’s announcement
By September 2021, office space had been subleased to Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, RBC Wealth Management and law firm Schroeter Goldmark Bender, according to GeekWire. Bank of America was reported to occupy 116,000 square feet. A JLL listing cited in that same report showed 526,000 square feet still available at the time. These figures describe the 2021 snapshot, not a current tenant roster or vacancy count.
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A separate 2021 King County Department of Assessments report listed 800,685 office square feet as offered for sublease. That number differs from the project’s 734,000-square-foot office figure; the sources reviewed do not reconcile the difference, so the figures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When residents began moving in
The residences opened in late June 2021. In a September 2021 report, GeekWire said they were then more than 40% leased and 30% occupied. Those measures captured the initial opening period only. The same story gave historical examples of rents: about $3,000 per month for a 720-square-foot one-bedroom and $25,000 per month for one of four 3,000-square-foot penthouses. They are not current prices.
The question at the time was whether people were ready to live in the building amid the challenges of that period. Holly Gardner, president of The Schuster Group, told GeekWire: “I think despite all of our challenges, Seattle has a proven history of rebounding through these challenges. We’re a big believer that we will again.” The remark reflects the outlook expressed in 2021, not a present-day occupancy assessment.
What current sources do—and do not—show
As of October 8, 2026, the project’s official pages describe residential and office leasing. The office page says Amazon is subleasing 734,000 square feet and presents 400 University as another office option; the residences page says “Now Leasing.” Those marketing statements do not establish current occupancy, whether Amazon uses any space, a complete current tenant list, apartment rents or live unit inventory. The official site is useful for the project’s current leasing presentation, but readers should confirm availability and terms directly with the property or a current broker.
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