Facebook leases vast new space in Fremont

Facebook has leased an additional 754,000 square feet for offices in Fremont.

The fast-growing Menlo Park social networking company has been on an expansion spree, leasing space in several Bay Area cities, including San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Fremont, in an effort to cut its workers’ commutes. The new lease will bring Facebook’s footprint in Fremont to more than 1 million square feet and allow it to create a campus-like environment inside one of Fremont’s business parks, said Christina

Briggs, the city’s deputy director of economic development.

“We’re certainly thrilled to see Facebook expanding so soon,” Briggs said Thursday. “Clearly they see Fremont as an important part of their next chapter of growth.”

Facebook entered the Fremont market last year when it leased two buildings from the Sobrato Organization, a development group. The newly announced 754,000 square feet of space is spread across 14 buildings and is leased from development firm Peery

Arrillaga. The San Francisco Business Times first reported the lease.

“This new space, with its proximity to our headquarters in Menlo Park, will support our growing workforce,” Facebook spokesman Jamil Walker said in an email.

Facebook has invested in efforts to improve transportation along the Dumbarton corridor, which would help employees go between its headquarters in Menlo Park and cities such as

Fremont and Newark. Last week, Facebook and public infrastructure investor Plenary Group entered into exclusive negotiations with SamTrans to look into the feasibility of fixing the Dumbarton Rail Bridge, a bridge that hasn’t been operational since the 1980s.