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Facebook buys land beside Menlo Park Headquarters

Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, has reportedly purchased a 59-acre lot right next to its headquarters site in Menlo Park, Calif., from TE Connectivity Ltd. for an undisclosed price.

Sources, in a telephone interview with Bloomberg, confirmed the news but said that they would use the property as "an investment in future" and will not be developing the property.

Facebook will be buying TE Connectivity's working site - a 10-building campus with about 1 million square feet of office space.

Details of the acquisition are not known as parties involved in the deal were not reachable. Experts believe that the buy is a logical investment move by Facebook.

Calling it a "hedge against the future", tech analyst Rob Enderly told the Business Journal:

"When you're anticipating growth, you want to bet on that future. I think at this point, for where Facebook is at, it's a logical investment to make."

Menlo Park Mayor Ray Mueller is also thrilled by the deal and is positive about the city's job scenario.

"It signals a continuing, long-standing vision that Facebook has to be in Menlo Park.We see that with the two campuses Facebook has now, but now see that with the third. That's exciting, and as they move into their adolescence, it can only be great for the city as you look at what they're going to do, and what we're trying to do for this area," Biz Journal quoted Mueller.

"I am eager to hear what Facebook has planned for the campus and very happy for Menlo Park residents, and for the region whose long-term future is strengthened a result of this deal," Mueller was quoted by Almanac News.

Meanwhile, Facebook is inching closer to the completion of its Frank Gehry-designed headquarters. Facebook first approached Gehry to build a bland office campus for the company in 2012. The new office space designs were revealed in August, 2012 - claiming that it would be the largest open-plan office in the world.

Apparently, Gehry was asked to "tone down" the architectural expressions of his initial plan. Once completed, the 433,555 square-feet sprawl will be able to accommodate 2,800 employees easily.

TIME has some new rendering pictures of the headquarters.


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