Before and after photos show how Amazon has completely transformed Seattle in a decade

Google Street View; Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider

Amazon's decision in 2007 to locate its headquarters in downtown Seattle has transformed the city in its image. 

As the global e-commerce giant has grown from 5,000 employees in the city to more than 40,000, a flurry of development has followed. 

The sea of parking lots, warehouses, motels, and car rental agencies that made up Seattle's South Lake Union and Denny Triangle has become gleaming skyscrapers, luxury rental towers, tech offices, and restaurants. 

Using Google Street View's Time Machine feature, we collected before and after pictures to show just how radically the neighborhoods have been remade in a decade.  

This is the corner of 6th Ave and Virginia Street in Denny Triangle in 2007. It is now the heart of Amazon's urban campus.

The building on the right is Amazon's Doppler Tower. Doppler was the internal codename for the Amazon Echo.

Denny Triangle and South Lake Union were once full of empty parking lots, car rental agencies, motels, industrial buildings, and warehouses. This is 7th Avenue and Blanchard Street.