Meta’s Office Footprint Grows in the Bay Area

Meta Platforms, which said it would shed 2 million square feet of offices across the Bay Area, is growing its footprint instead.

The Menlo Park-based parent of Facebook occupied more offices at the end of last year than it did a year earlier, growing to 9 million square feet from 7 million square feet, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Two years ago, the social media company signaled it planned to exit 3 million square feet of unoccupied offices.

In its most recent annual report, Meta said it planned to exit 2 million square feet. Yet the shoe, and its footprint, keep growing.

It’s not clear what prompted the increase in occupied space. Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Business Times.

The company said in its most recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing it increased its employee headcount by 10 percent last year, suggesting the rise in occupancy could be tied to its growing workforce.

The number of Meta offices may be more than meets the eye, or the federal regulatory requirements for a publicly traded company.

Meta’s overall Bay Area portfolio technically expanded last year by 1 million square feet — to 11 million square feet from 10 million square feet — due to existing agreements that went into effect and developments completed last year, an unidentified industry expert who wasn’t authorized to speak about the matter told the Business Times.

In 2021, Meta had about 2.4 million square feet of offices in the development pipeline, two-thirds of that at the Willow Village complex near its Menlo Park headquarters and nearly 800,000 square feet at Burlingame Point, according to an analysis by the Business Times.

Meta leased the 755,900-square-foot Park Tower at 250 Howard Street, in San Francisco, a block from Salesforce Tower. It also owns and leases several properties in Burlingame, Foster City, Fremont, Menlo Park, Newark, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.

At the same time, the company has offered up offices for sublease, including 435,000 square feet at 181 Fremont, which the company listed in January 2023. Strava, Zendesk and Navan have filled a third of that space, according to the Business Times.

In 2022, Meta also terminated its 450,000-square-foot lease at a two-building complex at 391 and 401 San Antonio Road in Mountain View, and offered up part of its Fremont offices for sublease the following year.

Meta spent more than $5 billion over the past three years to whittle down its real estate footprint, spending $383 million last year, $2.43 billion in 2023 and $2.22 billion in 2022, according to the regulatory filings.
— Dana Bartholomew