Yahoo! Inc. has wrapped up a difficult year by announcing it’s looking to sell a 48.6-acre development site in Santa Clara it’s owned for several years.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that the site, located near Levi’s Stadium, has been owned by Yahoo since 2006, back when the massive Web company was still growing. Yahoo apparently received approval to construct office space on the site for 12,000 employees, but work never began at the site.

No doubt the company purchased the land in the hopes that continued growth would require an expansion of its existing office space, but for numerous reasons that hasn’t happened. Yahoo’s growth has stalled over the last few years, and despite the best efforts of CEO Marissa Mayer, things are still looking somewhat bleak. The company’s sales currently hover around 2006 levels, while its market share is said to be shrinking.

Late last year, Yahoo scrapped its plan to cash in on its prized stake in China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., saying it would instead bundle the rest of its assets into a separate firm with a view to being sold off. Now, it seems the firm’s real estate assets are to be included as part of that fire sale.

“With the active real estate market in Silicon Valley and considerable interest having been expressed in the property, we are exploring all of our options including a possible sale,” Yahoo spokeswoman Carolyn Clark told Bloomberg.

Yahoo purchased the land for a reported $106 million in 2006, and its sale would presumably bring in more than what the company paid. Still, the proposed sale falls considerably short of some shareholder’s calls for Yahoo to layoff some of its employees and downsize its nearby corporate campus.

Yahoo is said to be working with the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate brokerage firm to try and find a buyer for the land. Following the news, the company’s share price fell by two percent at the close of trading to $33.37.

Image credit: Xavier Hseih via flickr.com