The San Francisco Bay area has found itself in a textbook case of supply-and-demand, as technology companies continue to aggregate and expand into its limited land area, costs have surged. To alleviate some of that pressure, Facebook has just announced plans to build a mixed-use development to provide housing and other community services. To be designed by OMA , Willow Campus, as it will be called, will include 1,500 units of housing (15 percent of which will be offered at below-market rates) and 125,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, pharmacy, and shops.
The new development will be situated adjacent to Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters, on land redeveloped in the former Menlo Science & Technology Park. Facebook hopes that by locating housing and essential services close to its headquarters, the new plan will help alleviate what has become intense traffic congestion. As OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu put it, “the site has the potential to impact the future of regional transportation, housing, and environment.”
The space will include 1,500 units of housing and 125,000 square feet of retail space.
To further address congestions, the company said, in a statement, that it will invest “tens of millions of dollars to improve US101.” Facebook will build out the plan in phases, beginning with housing, retail, and grocery, which it expects to be complete by 2021. Subsequent phases will be rolled out in two-year increments.
