Apple goes from renter to owner of four buildings in Cupertino in $450M deal

Apple Inc. acquired four buildings it was already renting in Cupertino for $450 million, signaling a willingness to maintain a long-term presence in its home city.

The deal represents one of the largest commercial property sales in Silicon Valley by dollar amount so far this year. And it’s another sign of Apple’s bullishness towards the region’s commercial real estate market; in May, the iPhone maker agreed to lease nearly 700,000 square feet of office space in Sunnyvale, which remains the largest office lease signed in Silicon Valley in 2021.

The collection of Cupertino properties Apple bought are located within a half-mile of the company’s Infinite Loop complex, which previously served as its corporate headquarters before it completed the construction of its new, larger “spaceship” campus in 2017. The four office and research-and-development (R&D) buildings contain 456,166 square feet of space combined, meaning Apple paid about $986 a square foot to purchase them, according to Old Republic Title records and data from Reonomy, a commercial real estate analytics firm.

The deal, first reported by the Mercury News, was recorded in the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office on Friday. The seller was several different limited partnerships affiliated with storied Silicon Valley developer Carl Berg and his family, according to documents filed with the Clerk-Recorder’s office.

Berg previously headed Mission West Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that once owned roughly 100 buildings in and around Silicon Valley totaling about 7.6 million square feet. The trust dissolved after selling most of its assets in 2012 in a deal valued at about $1.3 billion, although companies controlled by Berg retained control of some of the portfolio’s marquee properties, including the four in Cupertino that Apple recently closed on.

Berg and an Apple representative did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Following is a list of the Cupertino buildings Apple recently purchased from Berg-controlled entities:

a) A 211,024-square-foot office building at 10500 N De Anza Boulevard. Apple paid nearly $206 million to acquire the structure, which was completed in 1981, according to Old Republic Title and Reonomy records.

b) A 103,910-square-foot R&D facility at 20400 Mariani Avenue. Apple spent about $105.4 million to acquire the asset, which was completed in 1978 and renovated in 2000, according to Old Republic Title and Reonomy data.

c) Two buildings located next door to each other with addresses of 20605-20665 Valley Green Drive and 20705 Valley Green Drive. The pair of office and R&D properties sold for a combined total of about $138.6 million. Completed in 1975, they collectively contain 141,232 square feet, according to Old Republic Title and Reonomy records.

[Mercury News] — Matthew Niksa