Building Community

The Sobrato family has played a dynamic role in the emergence and growth of Silicon Valley for nearly 60 years. The family’s real estate tradition began in the 1940s when Ann Sobrato began acquiring land to grow produce for their family restaurant in San Francisco. After her husband’s death, Ann sold the restaurant, purchased additional land throughout the Valley, and developed one of the first “tilt-up” buildings in Santa Clara County.

Following his mother’s blueprint for success, John A. Sobrato founded Midtown Realty in Palo Alto at age 21. In the early 1960s, nearly a decade before the name “Silicon Valley” was coined, the pair joined forces to develop buildings for the burgeoning electronics industry. Years later, John A. Sobrato sold Midtown Realty and founded Sobrato Development Companies to focus exclusively on Silicon Valley real estate development.

The eldest of the third generation of the Sobrato family, John Michael Sobrato, joined the family business in the 1980s and has been its CEO since 1997. Now referred to as The Sobrato Organization (TSO), the company remains a family-owned and controlled business. TSO is the largest developer in the Silicon Valley, owning and managing more than 86 commercial properties (8 million square feet) throughout the region, and apartment projects totaling 7,300 housing units on the West Coast.

John A. Sobrato

Founder, Principal & Chairman
of The Sobrato Organization