Willow Village

Signature Development Group, on behalf of Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) has submitted a proposal to redevelop an industrial, office, warehouse, and research and development site with a mixed-use master plan. The proposal requests an increase in height and floor area ratio under the bonus level development allowance in exchange for community amenities. The proposal would demolish existing on-site buildings and landscaping and construct new buildings within three sub districts: 

• A town square district
• A residential/shopping district
• A campus district

Key proposal components

• Campus district including 1.6 million square feet of office and accessory uses, including meeting/collaboration space (a maximum of up to 1.25 million square feet of offices with balance for accessory uses)
• Up to 200,000 square feet of retail/non-office commercial uses, including a grocery store, pharmacy services, entertainment and restaurant uses
• Up to 1,730 multifamily housing units, including 308 below market rate units (260 inclusionary units or 15%, plus 48 units per the city’s commercial linkage fee/unit equivalency requirement)
• A 193 room hotel and associated retail/dining
• 3.5-acre publicly accessible park, a dog park, elevated linear park, and additional public open space
• 1.5-acre publicly accessible town square
• 2-acre publicly accessible elevated park extending over Willow Road providing access at the Hamilton Avenue Parcel North (Belle Haven Shopping Center)
• A publicly-accessible, below grade tunnel for Meta intercampus trams, bicyclists and pedestrians connecting the project with the West and East campuses

The proposed master plan focuses on redevelopment of the former Menlo Science and Technology Park (addressed 1350-1390 Willow Road, 925-1098 Hamilton Ave. and 1005-1275 Hamilton Court). 

Hamilton Avenue would be realigned using Hamilton Avenue Parcels North and South. Hamilton Avenue Parcel North includes the Belle Haven Shopping Center (1401 Willow Road and 871-883 Hamilton Ave.) and Hamilton Avenue Parcel South includes the existing Chevron service station (1399 Willow Road) that would be reconstructed.

The main project site currently contains approximately 1,004,000 square feet of nonresidential uses. The proposed project would result in a net increase of approximately 800,000 square feet of nonresidential uses (not including the hotel and ancillary park buildings/improvements), for approximately 1,800,000 square feet of nonresidential commercial uses at the main project site. The proposed project would be developed in two main phases outlined in the project plans.

City actions required on proposed project

It is anticipated that the following would be required for the proposed project:

• Certification of the environmental impact report
• Development agreement 
• Conditional development permit 
• General plan and zoning map amendments
• Rezoning to incorporate the “X” overlay district
• Below market rate housing agreement
• Vesting tentative map/subdivision
• Architectural control/future design review
• Heritage tree removal permits
• Fiscal impact analysis
• Appraisal/community amenity value analysis
• Use permits (for the Hamilton Avenue parcels)

Current status

Draft environmental impact report released

On Friday, April 8, 2022, the City of Menlo Park released the notice of availability(PDF, 973KB) for the draft environmental impact report(PDF, 23MB) beginning the 45-day public review and comment period that closes at 5 p.m., Monday, May 23, 2022. 

Comments may be emailed to Acting Planning Manager Kyle Perata or mailed to:

Kyle Perata
Community Development
701 Laurel St.
Menlo Park, CA 94025

At the April 25, 2022, Planning Commission meeting, the commission will hold a public hearing to receive public comments on the draft environmental impact report and a project study session to ask clarifying questions and receive/offer general feedback on the proposed master plan set and architectural design of Phase 1 of the project. 

The meeting agenda and staff report for the draft environmental impact report public hearing and project study session will be available for review at least 72 hours before the public meeting.  

The draft bonus level development appraisal(PDF, 519KB) is available for review and identifies a minimum community amenities value of $133 million, in exchange for bonus level development. The applicant’s community amenities proposal and the city’s evaluation of it will be published shortly.

The City Council is scheduled to review the community amenities proposal at its April 26, 2022, City Council meeting. 

Location

1380 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025  View map

37.4786563,-122.1507438

1380 Willow Road , Menlo Park, CA 94025

1380 Willow Road , Menlo Park, CA 94025