UNION CITY — Fortinet has widened its shopping spree for Bay Area real estate with the purchase of a Union City building, sending the value of its real estate acquisitions in the nine-county region past a half-billion dollars.
The tech company’s property-buying expeditions are even larger in the South Bay than they are in Union City.
All told, Fortinet has paid $535.7 million to buy properties in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Union City.
In Alameda County, Fortinet, a cybersecurity company, has spent an eyebrow-raising $209 million to buy several commercial or industrial properties in Union City, according to a review by this news organization of Alameda County public documents going back to 2016.
In the most recent East Bay deal, Fortinet paid $14.8 million for an industrial building at 1550 Atlantic Street in Union City, documents filed on Jan. 29 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office show.
The seller, Northwood Design Partners, a manufacturer of custom-made furniture, occupies the site. The 1550 Atlantic building totals about 54,000 square feet, according to the Property Shark website.
Starting in 2016, Fortinet has bought nine parcels in Union City in eight separate transactions, including the most recent one, Alameda County records show.
Sunnyvale-based Fortinet has launched an even larger buying effort in Santa Clara County, an effort that extends back more than a decade to 2012.
Fortinet has paid $326.7 million for numerous properties in Santa Clara County, according to this news organization’s review of public real estate documents.
The cybersecurity company’s purchases include a site where the company built its current headquarters at 909 Kifer Road in Sunnyvale.
Fortinet’s most recent — and what appears to be its largest — acquisition in the region was completed on Jan. 26, when the company bought a huge Texas Instruments campus that consisted of multiple offices and research buildings at and near 3833 Kifer Road in Santa Clara.
ln an all-cash deal, Fortinet paid $192 million for the 27-acre tech campus, Santa Clara County documents show.
The company made it clear in comments emailed to this news organization at the time of the Santa Clara campus deal that it is fully invested in growth in the region, as shown by its ongoing property deals.
“Fortinet is immensely proud to call the Bay Area home for over 20 years,” Fortinet said in an email.
The potential expansion efforts arrive at a time when Fortinet’s profits and sales are soaring.
In 2023, Fortinet earned $1.15 billion on revenue of $5.3 billion. In 2022, Fortinet earned $857 million on revenue of $4.42 billion. That means that in 2023 compared with the previous year, the company’s profits soared 34.1% while revenue jumped 20%.
“Fortinet is committed to its roots in the Bay Area,” the company said, “and contributes to jobs and growth in the surrounding community.”