Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) unveiled plans to redevelop its former Silicon Valley tech campus in Menlo Park, CA, which will be called “Willow Campus”, per the company’s blog posted on Jul 7.
In Feb 2015, Prologis Inc.'s Menlo Science & Technology Park was acquired by Facebook for approximately $400 million, bringing its total holdings in the neighborhood to nearly 200 acres.
In Mar 2015, the company officially moved into the 430,000-square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed Menlo Park building, known as MPK20, from its existing headquarters at 1 Hacker Way on the other side of California's Highway 84.
Reportedly, the new facility to be situated behind Menlo Park headquarters will be spread out across 125,000 square feet of retail space that will include a grocery store, and pharmacy along with 1,500 housing units, more than 200 of which will be rented at “below market rates”. Facebook missions “to create a neighborhood center that provides long-needed community services”.
According to the company, "Willow Campus will be an opportunity to catalyze regional transit investment by providing planned density sufficient to support new east-west connections and a future transit centre”. Transit is poor in the Bay Area, both due to traffic and lack of conveyance options between San Francisco and cities along the peninsula.
The company stated that construction will occur in phases. In the first phase, the grocery, retail, housing and office portions of this project are likely to be completed (by 2021), while subsequent phases will take two years each to complete. However, this campus will be in addition to the company’s existing office space and not a replacement for it.
Notably, other tech giants like Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google plans to buy 300 units of prefabricated apartments to serve as temporary employee residences on its planned “Bay View” campus at NASA’s Moffett Field, according to the Wall Street Journal last month.
It is also worth mentioning about Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new 175-acre "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, CA, called Apple Park, which was commissioned by legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs that will accommodate about 14,000 employees.
Zacks Rank and Share Price Movement
At present, Facebook carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We note that the company has outperformed the Zacks categorized Internet - Services industry in the last one year. The company’s shares increased 28.5% compared with the industry’s gain of 19.1%.
Stocks to Consider
A better-ranked stock in the broader tech space is Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) , which sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Marvell has delivered average positive earnings surprise of 86.70% in the trailing four quarters.
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With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.
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Facebook, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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