Maggie Shiels
A year and a half after cutting the ribbon on its Palo Alto HQ, Facebook has just unveiled plans to quit that complex and move six miles up the road to Menlo Park to a home that will house the social network's expanding employee base.
With a workforce of around 2,000, two-thirds of which are in the Bay Area, Facebook is busting at the seams. That is very evident when you walk around the place with people always milling around, the cafeteria's always brimming with employees and the overcrowded car park.
The world's biggest social network, which celebrated its seventh birthday last week, is growing like a weed and predicts that this year will see their hiring department working overtime to fill new posts.
There are 3,700 parking spaces at the new campus and room for 3,600 people, reporters were told during a news conference to unveil the new premises. When questioned, David Ebersman, chief financial officer admitted the company is planning to "add people". While he refused to be drawn on precise figures he did say "Facebook is growing 50% a year in terms of headcount and our growth plan is to continue hiring in the Bay Area."
The new digs which were built between 1993 and 1995, was Sun's corporate HQ until Oracle bought it for $7.4bn in 2010. The campus takes up 57 acres, has nine sprawling buildings and totals about one million square feet.
Facebook said it has also purchased an adjacent 22-acre tract that is connected to its new campus by a tunnel for possible future development.
Facebook did not say how much this is all costing but said Menlo Park did not offer any tax breaks to entice the hot Silicon Valley company to its neighbourhood.
Menlo Park Mayor Rich Cline said that while snagging Facebook was a coup, it won't be a walk in the park selling the idea to the locals.
"It is a dynamic company and will bring that dynamic brand to our town" but despite the "great excitement" at Facebook moving to the area there will be a healthy debate going forward.
The mayor said that the big problems that need to be ironed out centre around jobs, housing issues, traffic and the impact on schools.
Talking of impact, Facebook is taking on three fellows from the Environmental Defence Fund to map out a plan that will reduce the environmental burden of the project and save money.
"This is not just a feel good thing, this makes good business sense," said Melanie Janin of EDF.
"Embedding these fellows in companies helps embed an understanding of pairing environmental innovation with business sense. You can cut costs and your carbon footprint."
Facebook isn't the only Silicon Valley making real estate news.
Last month, Google announced it was leasing the famous Frank Gehry "Binoculars" building as part of its drive to hire 6,000 new people this year and expand its southern California base.
Rumours have been swirling for weeks that Twitter is looking to leave San Francisco and head to the town of Brisbane.
Seems highly unlikely and if the city by the Bay has anything to do with it, they will pull out the stops to keep this tech company in town. Stories are emerging that the city will offer Twitter tax breaks to stay put.
Of course all this address changing is a clear signal that Silicon Valley is on a major expansion drive and the quest for talent is only going to heat up.
Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
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