Facebook Is Entering the Real Estate Business

Will Facebook’s Community Flip or Flop?

Facebook has been around for over a decade, becoming a staple social network that over 1 billion people use daily. Its existence is so present in our lives, yet it’s not even a tangible product. Now, the social media tech giant is entering the physical world and planting roots with a planned community near its Menlo Park headquarters. The community will include a supermarket, restaurants, shops, and a 193-room hotel.

Community Concept

Dubbed Willow Village, the company’s community town plans to create a foot-traffic friendly space that would resemble Dallas’ Urban Park project to replace and renovate an outdated single-use warehouse complex, using the one million sq. ft. property’s footprint to develop housing, a grocery store, local shops, restaurants, offices, public parks, and plenty of open space for all-day play. Details on this community plan include:

Key features:

• 1,729 apartment homes in a mix of sizes, including approximately 20% affordable housing with more than 300 affordable homes and up to 120 units of senior housing.
• 125,000 to 200,000 square feet of retail centered around a town square, including a full-service neighborhood grocery store with local produce, cafes, restaurants, and space for other amenities.
• 1.25M square feet of traditional office space featuring next-generation, LEED-Gold design and 350,000 square feet of accessory space that includes a public visitor center and flexible meeting, collaboration, and conference spaces for employees and office guests.
• Parks and open space, including broad boulevards with dedicated pedestrian paths and bike lanes that link to surrounding and regional trails; a publicly accessible, approximately two-acre elevated park over Willow Road so neighbors can walk and bike to Willow Village; an approximately four-acre public park; a Town Square and public plazas for community gatherings, and a community-focused space.
• Earth-conscious, sustainable design that meets or exceeds Menlo Park requirements, featuring on-site renewable energy sources, all-electric buildings, recycled water systems, and next-generation buildings.

Development & Design Details

This community development is a collaboration between Facebook and Signature Development Group, a Bay Area real estate developer best known for the Hive in Oakland, a mixed-use commercial, shopping, and residential space that’s an authentic micro-neighborhood harnessing Oakland’s culture.

“Facebook wants to modernize this [property] and bring it into the 21st century,” Mike Ghielmetti, president of Signature Development, told The Mercury News in January.

The project started in 2017, when Facebook filed paperwork to redevelop the Prologis Menlo Science and Technology Park, but received resistance from local residents who voiced their concern for increased traffic, higher home costs, and less housing.

In response to these concerns, Facebook re-created its development plans with 30% less office space and added housing. The company also emphasized the public use of the community’s amenities like the grocery store and dining options.

“We’re deeply committed to being a good neighbor in Menlo Park,” John Tenanes, Facebook’s VP of Real Estate, told The Mercury News in May 2020. “We listened to a wide range of feedback and the updated plan directly responds to community input.”

The Future of Corporate-Built Communities

While communities such as Willow Village are well-intentioned, it's justifiable to feel concerned over tech giants creating entire communities. However, on a smaller scale, this idea to build housing for your workforce makes sense and can benefit employees. Such was the case for a small company in Dover, New Hampshire, whose owners decided to build an affordable community for their employees who could not otherwise afford the rising costs of living in their town. 

Cases like this shed light on the need for affordable housing all over America, while larger corporate communities are sure to become more common. Time will tell if these corporate-sponsored projects help more than they harm, and with the rollout of Google’s new multi-billion dollar megacampus coming soon, we’ll soon have two experimental communities to study.