Facebook to build housing in Silicon
Valley for first time
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[July 08, 2017]
By David Ingram
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The shortage of
housing in California's Silicon Valley has gotten so severe that
Facebook Inc on Friday proposed taking homebuilding into its own hands
for the first time with a plan to construct 1,500 units near its
headquarters.
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. Home prices and commute times have risen.
Tech companies have responded with measures such as internet-equipped
buses for employees with long commutes. Facebook has offered at least
$10,000 in incentives to workers who move closer to its offices.
Those steps, though, have not reduced complaints that tech companies are
making communities unaffordable, and they have mostly failed to address
the area's housing 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.
With Facebook's construction plan, the company said it wanted to invest
in Menlo Park, the city some 45 miles (72 km) south of San Francisco
where it moved in 2011.
The company said it wants to build a "village" that will also have 1.75
million square feet of office space and 125,000 square feet of retail
space.
"Part of our vision is to create a neighborhood center that provides
long-needed community services," John Tenanes, Facebook's vice president
for global facilities, said in a statement.
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Architectural rendering of Facebook’s proposed Willow Campus is seen
in Menlo Park, California, U.S. in this undated photo obtained by
Reuters July 7, 2017. The goal for the Willow Campus is to create an
integrated, mixed-use village that will provide housing, transit
solutions, office space that includes new retail space, a grocery
store, pharmacy and additional community-facing retail.
Facebook/Handout via REUTERS
The 1,500 Facebook housing units would be open to anyone, not just
employees, and 15 percent of them would be offered at below market
rates, the company said.
Facebook said it expects the review process to take two years.
Alphabet has taken a smaller step, buying 300 modular apartment
units for short-term employee housing, the Wall Street Journal
reported last month.
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 said the density of the proposed development
could also entice 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.
(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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