Meta Platforms and Signature Development Group have advanced plans to transform a former tech park in Menlo Park into a 59-acre urban retail village.
The city-based Facebook parent company and the Auckland-based developer have received planning commission approval for four building plans at 1350-1390 Willow Road, 925-1098 Hamilton Avenue and 1005-1275 Hamilton Court. Reported by SF Yimby.
The so-called Willow Village, which will replace the Menlo Tech Park, includes 19 low-slung 1970s offices.City Council green light end of last year.
Construction of what some are calling “Zucktown” is expected to take several years to complete in several stages.
The joint venture, Peninsula Innovation Partners, envisions a 3.56-million-square-foot village with offices, homes, a hotel, grocery store, shops and restaurants, just a 10-minute walk from Meta’s Frank Gehry-designed global headquarters distance.
The project will include 1,730 homes built around a 1.2-acre town square, 1.6 million square feet of offices, a 193-room hotel and 168,000 square feet of restaurants and shops.
312 of them will be reserved for affordable housing. The parking lot can accommodate nearly 8,300 cars.
Hart Howerton was the master planner and Ankrom Moisan Architects was responsible for the residential design. Pickard Chilton is the office architect and Safdie Architects designed a meeting and collaboration space.
Plans for the four buildings approved last month include a glass-domed meeting and collaboration space, a town square, an office park and two apartment buildings.
The largest component is Parcel 1, which includes 1.1 million square feet of offices across six buildings, 30,040 square feet of shops and restaurants, and two parking lots for 3,300 cars.
The second plot will feature a car park and will be topped by two apartment buildings designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects. The ground floor of the six-story building will include a 46,800-square-foot grocery store with parking for 630 cars and 550 bicycles.
The town square will include a gazebo with kitchen, shop, seating and a shaded area with bentwood latticework.
— Dana Bartholomew
