Facebook's plans for Menlo Park HQ: 9,400 workers in next 6 years

Facebook wants to redevelop the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park and two adjacent parcels to eventually accommodate 9,400 employees, according to city documents.

The fast-growing social networking company, which currently employs about 1,400 people in Palo Alto, expects to reach full capacity at the Sun campus and nearby buildings on Constitution Drive by 2017. "We're just preparing for the future," Larry Yu, Facebook's director of corporate communications, said. In addition to acquiring the 57-acre Sun campus east of Bayfront Expressway, Facebook purchased 22 acres at 312 and 314 Constitution Drive, which it is calling the "Facebook West Campus." The company plans to demolish the buildings on Constitution and construct five separate ones for about 2,800 employees -- in addition to the 6,600 employees expected at the Sun site that will be known as the "East Campus," according to Menlo Park's public notice of the project's impending environmental study. Facebook is already trying to head off one problem at the pass. When Sun received permission to develop the campus, it was prohibited from locating more than 3,600 employees there because of traffic concerns. Justin Murphy, development services manager for Menlo Park, said the company plans to use buses and shuttles to transport a significant number of workers.