Amazon’s $2.5-billion Virginia headquarters received approval from Arlington County Board members to build a temporary concrete batch facility. Approved unanimously during a virtual meeting on April 29 due to the state's COVID-19 stay-at-home order, the plant will be located on a vacant parcel adjacent to the MetPark construction site in Arlington’s Crystal City.
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The concrete mixing plant “will provide less of a disruption to the community due to the reduced number of deliveries that will occur through the neighborhood to reach this site if the concrete were to be manufactured off-site,” says Bob Duffy, Arlington County’s planning director.
The concrete batch plant will help decrease daytime truck traffic through neighborhoods that are more populated than usual due to the stay-at-home order, officials said. Duffy says the plant is required to “comply with all applicable codes, including the county’s noise control ordinance.”
Pentagon City and Crystal City residents, however, started a petition at change.org asking Amazon and its contractor, Clark Construction, to stop work until the stay-at-home order is lifted. The construction is considered an essential service under Virginia's stay-at-home order. The petition has received approximately 250 signatures as of April 30.
"Keeping our workforce and the public safe and maintaining open lines of communication with the community are Clark's top priorities on the Metropolitan Park project," Clark said in a statement emailed to ENR. "Particularly in light of COVID-19, we are focused on ensuring construction continues in the safest and most efficient manner possible, while minimizing disruptions. Work is progressing on site as planned."
Duffy noted that the concrete plant will facilitate “the timely construction of the MetPark office buildings with the potential for decreasing traffic and environmental impacts on the community.”
Designed by ZGF Architects, the project’s first phase includes 2.1 million sq ft of ground-up construction, office space for 12,500 employees, a 2,000-space underground parking garage with room for more than 600 bicycles, a daycare center for Amazon employees and street level retail space. The overall HQ2 plans call for two, 22-story towers to be built by 2023.
Pile driving at Met Park began April 10 and work will continue for six weeks with crews driving 330 piles for structural support for a site excavation, according to Clark’s website.
Click here to view plans for the concrete batch facility on the Arlington County Board's website.
This story was updated with a statement from Clark Construction on May 1.
