Amazon Expands to Downtown Santa Barbara for Team Alexa

Roughly 100 Amazon employees have moved into 48,000 square feet of recently transformed space at a 1001 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara. The property was formerly a Saks Fifth Ave store; with redevelopment for Amazon originally commencing in mid-2018.

The new creative office space is a home for engineers working on Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa, with a press release indicating plans are underway for adding an additional 150 employees or more at the company’s new talent hub.

“We have been able to hire great talent in Santa Barbara and look forward to doubling our workforce here,” said Kevin Davis, site kead of Amazon’s Santa Barbara office. “Santa Barbara is an incredibly welcoming city with a high quality of life and innovative culture – and we’re excited to create more jobs, and continue to invest locally in the community.”