Palo Alto Becomes Facebookplex?

We’ve posted about Facebook’s skyrocketing ad rates, about its growing user base, and now there’s news about the company expanding in a physical sense, as well.  This only makes sense, I suppose, but it’s apparently having quite an effect on the surrounding city.
Palo Alto Becomes Facebookplex?Megan McCarthy.

With Facebook’s (presumably) deep pockets, that’s driving up costs; McCarthy notes, “office rents on the Peninsula have jumped 13 percent last quarter and 39 percent over last year.”  And because “[e]very Facebook employee living within a mile of the offices receives a $600 monthly stipend,” it’s not just office buildings that may be growing more expensive.  After all, couldn’t you handle swapping your commute for a large sum of cash?

Still, it seems that Facebook’s presence is causing a lot of traffic issues.  “Parking has always been scarce in downtown Palo Alto and Facebook has not made that situation any easier,” writes McCarthy.  “There is a six-to-eight week waiting list for parking passes issued by the city government, and, until a new employee receives that pass, he or she either parks in surrounding residential areas or moves the car every two hours. . . .  Jim Merryman, Facebook’s director of real estate, recently joked that parking tickets from Facebook employees were a boon to [the] local economy.”

Hmmm.  I don’t think Facebook’s got anything quite like the Googleplex, but just as Google is synonymous with Mountain View, it appears that Facebook and Palo Alto are merging.