Meta Abandons Mixed-Use Menlo Park Megadevelopment

Meta Platforms is shelving its long-planned Willow Village development in Menlo Park, pulling back on a mixed-use development that once symbolized the tech giant’s physical expansion.

The decision comes as the company trims both headcount and office footprint, even while posting blockbuster financials, Mercury News reported. The scale and timing of the development no longer pencil amid shifting workplace needs and a softer real estate environment.

“The decision to place Willow Village on hold was difficult,” Adam Alberti, spokesperson for Peninsula Innovation Partners, the Meta Platforms affiliate that owns the development site and is the applicant for the project, told Mercury News. “While the plan reflects a genuine vision for community-based development, the current real estate market and a shift in space requirements make advancing a project of this type and scale unworkable at this time.”

Willow Village, approved by Menlo Park in 2022, was envisioned as a full-fledged neighborhood near Meta’s headquarters. If completed, it would have boasted nearly 1.3 million square feet of offices, 1,730 housing units and a mix of retail including a grocery store. About 300 of the apartments were slated to be affordable. The project would have replaced an aging industrial park and accommodated nearly 7,000 employees.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company said the pause wasn’t a reflection on its partnership with the City of Menlo Park or the project’s design, which had gone through years of community engagement and planning.

Meta is preparing to cut about 10 percent of its global workforce, or between 7,500 and 8,000 jobs. Layoffs are expected to begin this month and stretch into the second half of the year. In the Bay Area alone, the company has already disclosed 519 job cuts in 2026 through WARN filings, according to Mercury News. At the same time, Meta is shrinking its office footprint, mirroring moves by other tech firms reassessing space in a hybrid work era.

The pullback in headcount and real estate comes as the company sees soaring profits. Meta reported more than $10.4 billion in profits in the first quarter — up 61 percent year over year — on more than $56 billion in revenue. It also plans to boost capital expenditures to as much as $145 billion this year, largely tied to artificial intelligence and infrastructure investments. The move follows Meta’s retreat from its $1 billion affordable housing commitment last year.

Meta joins Google in pulling back from mixed-use developments in Silicon Valley. Last year, Google sought to sell 40 acres in Mountain View previously planned for its Middlefield Park mixed-use neighborhood. The City of Mountain View had already approved 1,900 homes to be built on 2.4 acres for the development, with up to 380 units of affordable housing. The plan also included 50,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 1.3 million square feet of offices.

— Chris Malone Méndez