MENLO PARK — The proprietor of the Fb app has made a brand new grocery retailer an early-stage precedence within the growth of an enormous Menlo Park village that the tech titan is proposing.
A grocery retailer, city sq., elevated park and retail will now happen within the first part of development — and never within the third part as beforehand proposed — beneath the most recent plans for Willow Village in Menlo Park proposed by Meta Platforms, whose apps embody Fb.
The revamped strategy for Willow Village additionally companies up that the variety of properties — together with reasonably priced residences — shall be elevated and the quantity of workplace house and Meta Platforms on-site workers shall be decreased in contrast with prior proposals for the brand new neighborhood.
The village’s new model has emerged after a wide-ranging neighborhood outreach undertaken by Meta Platforms. The neighborhood would sprout at and close to 1350 Willow Street in Menlo Park.
“This plan represents greater than 4 years of labor with our neighbors and metropolis leaders to meet our mutual imaginative and prescient for a spot that's deeply related with the encompassing neighborhood and considerably contributes to our shared future,” mentioned John Tenanes, Meta’s vice chairman of actual property.
Meta is making an attempt to interchange a half-century-old industrial and analysis park with a brand new Menlo Park neighborhood of properties, workplaces, a grocery market, parks, and open areas.
The event might rise close to Meta Platform’s headquarters on Hacker Manner.
The general public will quickly be capable of overview a draft environmental impression report for Willow Village. Meta and the undertaking’s lead developer, Signature Growth, are steering the proposal by way of town overview course of.
The workplace house being deliberate for the brand new neighborhood now totals 1.25 million sq. ft, in contrast with the prior model that proposed 1.75 million sq. ft. That’s a lower of 29% within the sq. footage for the workplace house.
The quantity of housing eyed for the undertaking now totals about 1,730 items, up from roughly 1,500 items. That’s a rise of about 15% within the variety of residences.
The variety of reasonably priced housing items will now prime 300 properties, together with 120 senior reasonably priced items. Prior variations had proposed 225 reasonably priced items.
The brand new model of the workplace growth would add 3,450 workers to the positioning for a brand new whole of 6,950 employees. Earlier variations of the plan would have positioned 9,500 Meta employees there. That’s a 27% lower within the variety of on-site Meta employees as soon as the village is full.
“We have to steadiness jobs and housing in Menlo Park” was one of many bullet factors that emerged from the Meta outreach to the neighborhood.
About 3,500 Meta workers work on the present Willow campus at current.
“We’ve been informed dwell, work, play for a lot of, a few years, some folks for many years,” mentioned Sheryl Bims, a Belle Haven resident. “It appears like lastly there's a undertaking that's being delivered that can actually present the correct mix of issues and supply true entry to folks in the neighborhood.”
The neighborhood grocery retailer could be constructed on the nook of Willow Street and a brand new highway referred to as Most important Avenue, which extends from the present Hamilton Avenue, a website plan offered by Meta and Signature Growth exhibits.
The grocery retailer would whole about 37,000 sq. ft, based on Meta.
“There shall be a neighborhood grocery retailer for which the neighborhood has been clamoring for a while,” Mike Ghilmetti, president of Signature Growth, mentioned in a January 2021 interview with this information group.
That strategy matches one of many conclusions that arose from neighborhood suggestions that Meta gathered in its outreach efforts.
“This neighborhood wants a grocery retailer and we want it now,” was one of many Meta takeaways from the suggestions.
The undertaking will add different facilities to the world, together with the elevated park. The park is predicted to be akin to The Excessive Line, a New York Metropolis elevated park that was developed atop an deserted freight line above the streets of Manhattan’s west aspect.
The curving park would provide views of the brand new village to the south, close by current neighborhoods to the west reminiscent of Belle Haven, the wetlands to the north, and San Francisco Bay to the east, based on Meta Platforms and Signature Growth.
The elevated park will embody strolling and biking trails, in addition to landscaping that shall be 50 ft to 80 ft broad. Kids’s play areas, shading canopies, and seating may also be included.
To attach Willow Village to close by residential areas such because the Belle Haven district, the elevated park will arch over Willow Street, permitting for direct entry from adjoining neighborhoods.
Menlo Park metropolis officers are slated to make a last resolution on the proposal by the top of this 12 months.
“Our neighborhood is lastly getting a grocery retailer, and a financial institution, and eating places, and cafes, a park,” mentioned Rachel Bickerstaff, a Belle Haven resident. “It’s beautifying the neighborhood. We want extra happiness after the pandemic.”