Menlo Park-based Facebook is considering a major expansion into San Francisco barely a month after reports that CEO Mark Zuckerberg would not bow to employee pressure to do just that. According to three separate sources that spoke with the Business Times, this wouldn't be merely a token measure to appease the many Facebook employees sick and tired of the commute from San Francisco to the South Bay. Rather, the company is reportedly eying "hundreds of thousands of square feet in the city."
Facebook, of course, has declined to comment on the possible expansion. And while nothing is set in stone, the speed at which Zuckerberg has reportedly changed his tune on the importance of having a single corporate campus is astounding. It was just last month industry journal The Information reported that despite a Facebook San Francisco office being "[one] of the most consistently high-ranking requests Facebook employees make in an annual survey gauging their happiness," Palo Alto resident "Zuckerberg told employees that he believes employees should be clustered together and near the executive team for cultural reasons [...]."
If the company does decide to move forward and lease huge amounts of office space right here in SF, it may be a sign that Facebook is facing pressure in recruiting top talent when competing with other companies that have offices in the city. After all, commuting to Menlo Park to work at Facebook may not seem as appealing of a proposition if you can just get a job at Uber or Twitter in San Francisco.
It should be noted that while Facebook does already has a small amount of SF office space, that is solely for its Oculus Rift team — a fact that likely frustrates those employees venting about their possibly disappearing shuttle stops. It should also be noted that Facebook still has plans for a major expansion of their Menlo Park offices nearly one million square feet, in fact, doubling the number of employees there to over 12,000 and the move to SF could still be scuttled in favor of that.
More details on the rumored Facebook expansion should emerge later this year with the expected completion of the Central SoMa rezoning process. If, as The Business Times reports, 250 acres are indeed rezoned to allow for the construction of huge office buildings, Facebook may be one of the first companies clamoring for the new real estate — and even more people will probably claim San Francisco is part of Silicon Valley.
Update: Sorry, Facebook employees. A spokesperson for the company responded to a request for comment from Curbed on the matter of a future SF office, and it doesn't sound like it's going to happen after all.
"We're not looking at space in SF," the spokesperson flatly told the publication.
So there you have it. It looks like Zuckerberg stuck to his guns, and you'll be sticking to your shuttle.
Related: Facebook Employees Actually Hate Commuting, Beg For SF Office