http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/06/stanfords-expansion-plans-stir-debate-in-congested-palo-alto/
Stanford aims to add about 40 football fields worth of academic buildings and enough beds to fill 17 Four Seasons hotels over the next two decades — construction it says is essential to keep its world-class stature as an engine of innovation.
“The Farm” has become an innovation machine, turning the once-sleepy Peninsula into an economic juggernaut. With half of its 8,100 acres in Santa Clara County, Stanford’s campus is the size of a small city and includes a major shopping center, research park, homes, schools and recreational facilities, in addition to open space. But it is exempt from paying most property taxes.
By the end of this next phase of development, Stanford will have more than tripled its 1960 size, from 4 million to more than 14 million square feet — in addition to housing.
Stanford’s plan envisions 2.3 million square feet of new academic buildings and up to 3,150 new housing units. There’s a strong focus on expanding postdoctoral research facilities, which could spur the creation of new Silicon Valley tech companies.
Another 9,000 students, faculty and staff would be added to the campus. Currently, Stanford holds about 30,100 people.
Residents are already bracing for more congestion as the university finishes major expansions of its two hospitals. The 844,000-square-foot Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, slated to open in December, is double its original size. The new 824,000-square-foot Stanford Hospital, to open in 2019, will increase patient capacity to 600 beds, enlarge a Level-1 trauma center and offer an emergency department nearly three times the size of its current footprint.