The company wants to buy two separate pieces of land in Emerald Park, a 950-acre former U.S. Army base formerly used for 30 years as the old Santa Rita Jail. The two pieces total 26.3 acres and Cisco proposes to buy both for $34.3 million.

It also seeks to purchase 8.7 acres of nearby Transit Center land for $11.2 million. That equates to a sale price of about $30 per sf for a planned 1 million sf of office space.

Cisco will pay $342,000 for exclusive negotiating rights over the next 60 days. After that time is up, the board will consider a final purchase and sale agreement.

If the sale goes through, it could create as many as 3,000 new jobs. Cisco is also currently negotiating on land parcels in Fremont, Calif., and in Coyote Valley, near Salinas, Calif.

Company sources say Cisco is drawn to the property for Dublin's quality of life, proximity of affordable housing and public transportation, and an available pool of qualified workers.

The company is hardly alone in its appreciation for Dublin, located on Silicon Valley's eastern edge. The booming city is now home to Sybase, which this week broke ground on its 420,000-sf headquarters. Commerce One also has an option to buy Dublin land for its own headquarters.

All told, commercial developers currently have projects totaling 4.4 million sf of office and retail space in the area. The Association of Bay Area Governments estimates that over the next two decades, Silicon Valley's eastern edge - which includes Dublin as well as Danville, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore - will add 90,000 new jobs and 86,500 new residents.