Irvine Co. Leases Buildings to Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of Internet equipment, agreed to lease 10 buildings in an Irvine Co. development in Milpitas, about two miles northeast of Cisco’s main campus in San Jose. Starting this summer, Cisco will begin to occupy 572,000 of the 1 million square feet of space in the development, McCarthy Center. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Cisco is hiring aggressively to maintain revenue growth, adding more than 2,500 employees a quarter, some through acquisitions. It had about 26,000 workers worldwide at the end of January. The McCarthy Center complex, with Cisco as the first and anchor tenant, will eventually have 19 buildings, said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for Irvine Co. in Newport Beach. Four are already complete, she said. Irvine Co., expanding beyond Orange County, acquired the 42-acre site two years ago.