Facebook to build a new public park and event space in Menlo Park

Facebook may have contributed to the Bay Area’s housing and identity crisis, but at least it’s now giving Menlo Park, the rich South Bay neighborhood where Facebook’s HQ is located, a new park!

Facebook provided a closer look at its Frank Gehry-designed Menlo Park campus in a blog on Tuesday. Nestled amongst details of its company Redwood grove and five unique dining options was the news that Facebook is working on a two-acre public park.

The public park will include bike paths, a pedestrian bridge, a plaza, and an event space.

Next year we plan to complete a two-acre park with a public plaza and event space, which can host our Facebook Festivals, mobile farmers’ market and other local programs. A highlight of the project will be a community bike and pedestrian bridge over the Bayfront Expressway. This landmark feature will connect the neighborhood and our campus to recreational trails and parks along the San Francisco Bay.

This isn’t Facebook’s first foray into hybrid private-public works projects. Last July, Facebook unveiled plans for its Willow Campus in Menlo Park. It planned to build a “mixed-use village” consisting of housing (some below market cost), grocery and drug stores, pedestrian walkways and more — all open to the public, and run by Facebook. 

In the post, Facebook explains additional ways that it’s working to improve housing, transportation, and opportunities for all bay area residents — not just tech workers. The new buildings themselves are also sustainable and built in conjunction with city efforts to reduce the urban carbon footprint and use of other resources. 

And, who doesn’t love a good park, amirite? It’ll be really nice to think about our crumbling faith in Truth and Fact whilst biking over the Bayfront Expressway. Or, what better place to contemplate the condo-ification of urban communities than a lush, Facebook HQ-adjacent, grassy meadow? No better place!

Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh. Parks are nice. And,  the wholistic, sustainable approach to the project is truly admirable. However, the private-public works project is also emblematic of Facebook’s hyperactive approach to problems, both legitimate and public-relations-wise. Which is why it’s worth taking a lesson from this, too.

Over the last few years, Facebook has been reckoning with how its astronomical growth has affected both local communities and global politics. As we see with this project and others, its impulse is to build more, grow more, do more, to atone for its mistakes. But maybe the lesson Facebook should have learned was humility; instead of building the proverbial park, perhaps Facebook could refocus that spirit of generosity, and let city governments and community leaders decide what to do with that land for themselves.

But stoked about any future Green Day concerts Zuckerberg might be planning for the plaza!