Facebook Unveils Plans To Transform Menlo Park Campus Into A 'Village' Complete With 1,500 Homes, Retail Shops And 1.75MILLION Square Feet Of Office Space

Facebook unveiled plans (right) on Friday to transform its Silicon Valley headquarters (inset) into a 'mixed-use village' complete with retail shops and 1,500 homes. Plans for the 'Willow Campus' were spurred by inadequate housing and public transit for Facebook employees, according to vice president of global facilities and real estate John Tenanes. Tech companies in the San Francisco Bay area have long been blamed for making the area unaffordable. But Tenanes said the company wanted to contribute to the community, and the 1,500 housing units will be available to anyone - not just employees - with 15 percent being offered at below market rates. Pictured left, CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook unveiled plans on Friday to transform its Silicon Valley headquarters into a 'mixed-use village' complete with retail shops and 1,500 homes.

Facebook's Menlo Park campus

AFP and Reuters report continues:

Plans for the 'Willow Campus' were spurred by inadequate housing and public transit for Facebook employees, according to vice president of global facilities and real estate John Tenanes.

Tech companies in the San Francisco Bay area have long been blamed for making the area unaffordable.

But Tenanes said the company wanted to contribute to the community, and the 1,500 housing units will be available to anyone - not just employees - with 15 percent being offered at below market rates.  

With Facebook's construction plan, the company said it wanted to invest in Menlo Park, the city about 45 miles south of San Francisco where it moved in 2011.

The proposed Willow Campus will include 1.75million square feet of office space, 125,000 square feet of retail space, and 1,500 housing units open to people outside the company.  

'Working with the community, our goal for the Willow Campus is to create an integrated, mixed-use village that will provide much needed services, housing and transit solutions as well as office space,' Tenanes said in a blog post.

'Our hope is to create a physical space that supports our community and builds on our existing programs.'

Facebook will file its latest plans to the city this month, initiating a review process expected to take about two years, according to Tenanes.

Construction will follow, with the first phase projected to be completed in early 2021. 

Menlo Park Mayor Kirsten Keith said in an interview that there were concerns about whether the Facebook plan would increase traffic, a subject the city's planning department would study.

She said, though, that Facebook's plan fits with the city's own long-term plan for development, and that the city was excited about the additional housing.

Facebook's Tenanes also said the density of the proposed development could attract spending on transit projects.

'The region's failure to continue to invest in our transportation infrastructure alongside growth has led to congestion and delay,' he said.  

The growth of Facebook, Alphabet Inc's Google and other tech companies has strained neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay area that were not prepared for an influx of tens of thousands of workers during the past decade.

Tech companies have responded by providing internet-equipped buses for employees with long commutes and Facebook has offered at least US$10,000 in incentives to workers who move closer to its offices.

Those steps, though, have not reduced complaints that tech companies and the influx of workers have inflated housing prices amid a shortage. 

'The problem with Silicon Valley is you don't have enough supply to keep up with the demand,' said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at real estate research firm CoreLogic.