Willow Road between Bayfront Expressway and O'Keefe Street carries two sets of plans. One belongs to Meta. It promised a grocery store, a pharmacy, a town square and a two-acre park built over the roadway itself. The other belongs to the City of Menlo Park. It promises separated bikeways, new crosswalks and bus boarding islands. Both were drawn for the same stretch of asphalt, and both were active at the start of 2026.
Since May, they have moved in opposite directions. Meta paused Willow Village on May 1, 2026. In July, Caltrans approved the Project Report for the city's corridor project, and final design is scheduled to begin this fall. On the current record, the next visible change on Willow Road will come from the city's project, and it runs on a calendar the public can follow.
A development agreement with no construction date
Willow Village was approved by the Menlo Park City Council on December 6, 2022. The Almanac described it as widely considered the largest development in the city's history. The plan covered the former Menlo Science and Technology Park at 1350-1390 Willow Road and the Hamilton Avenue parcels. It included up to 1,730 homes, up to 200,000 square feet of retail and a hotel of up to 193 rooms.
The community package is what made it matter to people who never planned to set foot in a Meta office. The Almanac reported that the city valued the amenities at $188 million. That figure included a full-service grocery store with rent subsidies valued at $32.4 million, a town square valued at $15.5 million, and dining and entertainment offerings. Meta also committed to a $133 million elevated public park. The city's project page says that elevated park would cross Willow Road and land at the Hamilton Avenue Parcel North, the site of the Belle Haven Shopping Center.
The project's spokesperson, Adam Alberti, explained the pause in a statement quoted by The Almanac:
"While the plan reflects a genuine vision for community-based development, the current real estate market and a shift in space requirements make advancing a project of this type and scale unworkable at this time."
The pause did not end the agreement. Seventeen days later, on May 18, the Planning Commission voted unanimously that Peninsula Innovation Partners, the Meta-controlled entity, was in good-faith compliance for the 2025 review period. The Almanac reported that the agreement remains in effect through 2032. Most of the agreement's obligations are tied to construction milestones, so a stalled project triggers few of them. Of the 30 requirements reviewed, 24 were conditional or required no action, two were in progress or ongoing, and four were complete. According to The Almanac, the agreement gave Meta vested rights for 10 years without requiring it to build any part of the project.
At that meeting, the developer's representative said he had no timetable to share. As a result, the grocery store, the pharmacy and the park over Willow Road are approved but have no date attached. The city has said it will keep reviewing the agreement every year.
The project that cleared Caltrans in July
The city's Willow Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety project covers almost the same frontage. Its limits run from Bayfront Expressway to O'Keefe Street. Willow Road is also State Route 114, so Caltrans has to approve each step. In July 2026, Caltrans approved the Project Report, which closed out the environmental phase.
According to the city and an August 27 memo from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, the scope includes:
- Class IV separated bikeways, with Class II bike lanes on some segments
- New crossings at O'Brien Drive and Bay Road
- High-visibility crosswalks and pedestrian refuge islands
- Bus boarding islands to improve transit operations
- Bicycle detection at signalized intersections
- Improved access at the U.S. 101 ramps
The city led and paid for the conceptual design and environmental work itself. Final design gets technical help from SMCTA and has a $2.6 million budget. That covers $1.6 million from the Measure A/W Highway Program and a $1 million local match from Menlo Park.
A schedule counted in years
The two projects come apart most clearly on dates. The city's project has milestones a resident can check. Meta's project has a review date each year and nothing scheduled after it.
- December 6, 2022. City Council approves Willow Village.
- May 1, 2026. Meta pauses Willow Village.
- May 18, 2026. The Planning Commission finds the developer in good-faith compliance.
- June 2026. Menlo Park applies for $7.3 million in construction funding from the state's Cycle 8 Active Transportation Program.
- July 2026. Caltrans approves the corridor project's Project Report.
- Fall 2026. Final design is scheduled to begin.
- 2027. The city plans to seek any remaining construction money from SMCTA's next Highway Program call for projects.
- March 2028. Final design is expected to be complete.
- 2032. The Willow Village development agreement runs out.
The city's design phase alone takes about 18 months. Construction comes after that. Anyone hoping to ride a separated bikeway past O'Brien Drive is looking at 2028 at the earliest, and only if the construction money arrives.
The construction money is still being raised
Funding is the open question for the city's project. The July 14 staff report put the construction funding gap at $7.266 million. That is close to three times the $2.6 million design budget, and it matches the $7.3 million the city requested from the Active Transportation Program in June.
At that July 14 study session, the City Council told staff to keep the design going, to keep applying for construction grants, and to use up to $1.75 million from the Bayfront Mitigation Fund for matching dollars. The Almanac's account described a council that was short on funds and still pushing the project forward. An August 11 staff report recommended appropriating another $1.75 million from the same fund, because the money already set aside for the project would not cover the match. The project team is also applying to the Safe Routes to Transit and the Bay Trail program.
So both plans for this corridor still depend on someone deciding to pay. The city's project has an application in, a 2027 funding round on the calendar, and a council that has twice been asked to put local money behind it. Willow Village has a signed agreement and no date.
What the corridor already offers
None of this changes the parts of the Bayfront that are already built and open.
Meta Park is privately owned but open to the public, according to the city. Its bicycle and pedestrian bridge crosses Bayfront Expressway and connects Belle Haven to the Bay Trail and Bedwell Bayfront Park. At Bedwell Bayfront Park, the 2.3-mile perimeter trail is part of the San Francisco Bay Trail and is open during daytime hours. The half-mile Flyway Trail opened there on October 19, 2024, as part of the marsh restoration work, The Almanac reported. A separate city project will improve the park entrance and rebuild a section of the Bay Trail. It is still in design, and construction is expected to start in 2027.
Inland, the Belle Haven Community Campus at 100 Terminal Avenue was completed in May 2024. The 37,000-square-foot building holds the Belle Haven Library, the Belle Haven Pool, the Belle Haven Youth Center, the Menlo Park Senior Center and the Onetta Harris Community Center. When the pool opened, the city announced it as a year-round swim center open seven days a week. The current venue page sends swimmers to the operator's schedule for hours and entry fees.
The Belle Haven Center at Willow and Hamilton is the parcel where the elevated park was meant to land, and its tenants have felt the pause. The Almanac reported that Dashi Japanese Restaurant was scheduled to close July 3 after a 26-year run, following a lease notice from Meta's landlord team. SFGATE's coverage named the center's other businesses as Mi Taqueria, HAJI'S, SAJJ Mediterranean, Starbucks and Jack in the Box.
The bridge to the Bay Trail is already open. The bikeways and crossings are in design and waiting on construction funding. The park over Willow Road has an agreement behind it that stays in force through 2032 and has no construction date.
Large projects on the Peninsula often take years longer than first planned, and the effect on day-to-day life can be uneven. At the Buljan Group, we follow corridors like Willow Road one milestone at a time, because those details shape what a property near it offers. If you would like to talk through how projects on the Bayfront relate to your own plans in Menlo Park, we would welcome the chance to schedule a confidential consultation.