Cisco sells San Jose office buildings but has option to buy them back

SAN JOSE — Cisco Systems has sold several San Jose office buildings to a big Bay Area real estate firm — and also has struck a deal that could enable the tech titan to buy some of the buildings back from the buyer.

The computer networking giant sold the buildings for $63 million to South Bay Development, a veteran real estate firm, according to documents filed on Dec. 19 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.

Cisco Systems sold four north San Jose office buildings with addresses of 260, 300, and 350 East Tasman Drive, and 3750 Zanker Road, as well as two parking garages in the vicinity, the county documents show.

South Bay Development, acting through an affiliate, bought the buildings through an all-cash deal, according to the real estate documents.

The buildings are part of Cisco’s headquarters campus in north San Jose.

The just-sold buildings are the same office sites that Cisco decided to exit in 2024 when it shifted several of its units to an office building in the west San Jose mixed-use Santana Row neighborhood.

San Jose-based Cisco moved the tech workers so they could operate more closely with employees of Splunk, a tech company that is a subsidiary of Cisco. Splunk’s principal offices are at Santana Row.

Cisco’s purchase also includes an agreement that gives Cisco a right of first refusal to buy some of the buildings under certain circumstances.

“Because of unique aspects of the property and Cisco’s operations in the vicinity of the property, Cisco desires to retain a right of first refusal to purchase building 10 (300 East Tasman) and/or building 11 (350 East Tasman),” Cisco Systems stated a document that was filed the same day the purchase deed was recorded.