Meta has indefinitely paused Willow Village, the housing and retail development it planned for Belle Haven, Meta affiliate Adam Alberti announced May 1. Instead, the company is shifting money toward artificial intelligence.
The Menlo Park City Council approved the project in December 2022. It promised 1,730 homes, 312 of them below market rate, along with the neighborhood’s first full grocery store, a movie theater, dog parks, and new open space.
This development was not only key to helping Menlo Park reach its affordable housing goal, but also to developing Belle Haven. The neighborhood has historically been the least developed neighborhood in Menlo Park. Redlining and the construction of Highway 101 cut it off from the investment that flowed to wealthier parts of the city. As a result, residents lack basic amenities nearby such as a bank, pharmacy, and even a grocery store.
“I feel like over here, there’s barely really anything. Like we just have the basic [stores], just Starbucks and that’s it,” sophomore Breana Jimenez, who lives in Belle Haven, said.
The Willow Village was touted as the first step in bridging that inequality, contributing to the proposal’s popularity among Council members. The Council partnered with Meta to approve the project in December 2022. Under the development agreement, Meta, through its affiliate Peninsula Innovation Partners, would pay for the roughly $3.5 billion project, a cost the city could likely not take on itself. However, delays from Meta left the project in limbo until Meta eventually paused plans in May.
Cost seems an unlikely reason for the delay, since Meta has been constantly increasing revenue, growing 28% just last quarter.
Meanwhile, Meta’s spending has shifted toward artificial intelligence. The company is building a massive data center in Louisiana, and another in Texas. Two days before pausing Willow Village, Meta raised its projected 2026 capital spending to between $125 billion and $145 billion. That is nearly double the $72.2 billion it spent in 2025. Meta has not publicly tied the pause to AI. Alberti cited only changing real estate conditions and space needs.
Right now in Belle Haven, residents are confined to a “food desert.” When traffic is high, it often takes 30 minutes to an hour to reach a grocery store. This proposal was supposed to provide residents an opportunity to obtain basic needs without needing a long haul, by virtue of new restaurants and grocery stores. Now, with it indefinitely on hold, it serves as a reminder of the widening disparity between Belle Haven and the rest of Menlo Park.
“I feel like we need some stores over there,” sophomore and Belle Haven resident Yaneisy Rodriguez said. “I would like a Target and an In-N-Out.”
With this proposal cancelled, Menlo Park is falling short of their housing requirements significantly. Meta’s development agreement with the city remains technically in effect, but the company has announced no timeline to resume construction.
