efg/design development
The efg/design development family of companies began in 1979 as a sole proprietorship and a single principal, Ed Eastridge. After a successful two year experience as a partner in the Ritchie Eastridge Design Group (RED) as a landscape designer, an opportunity with a long time client provided an opportunity for a move to project and development management services. Opening a small office in Scottsdale, Arizona, landscape design continued as a mainstay service which was in high demand as the Phoenix metropolitan area grew.
Early development work centered around design and construction oversight for small tenant improvement projects, including retail, service retail, and small office uses. An engagement for early conceptual studies for a well known Scottsdale eatery led to more work in the food and beverage sector. This phase of design and development of bars and restaurants culminated in the concept creation, design, entitlement and project management for Scottsdale Mall?s Sunova Beachclub.
In 1980, long time friends from a long relationship in motorsports invited Eastridge to relocate to San Diego to oversee the significant renovation and expansion of their home in Del Mar. With many friends and colleagues in the San Diego area known through racing, both the custom homebuilding and the racing activities picked up. Enjoying several years of focus on the comprehensive design and development oversight for demanding owners of spectacular homes, another opportunity arose through contacts in motorsports.
During the early 80?s, design development motorsports (ddms) grew quickly from a garage based autocross program with Eastridge being owner, driver, sponsor and crew. The multi talented Porsche 914 provided for transportation and competition needs, hauling lumber one day and on the track the next. Nearly every weekend was consumed by 200 + entry autocrosses or SCCA amateur road races. Close involvement with the significant population of Porsche racing enthusiasts led to an opportunity to advise and support other racers. By 1983, racing had grown to a significant business for Eastridge, with at least one good paying client and a lot of friends. A season long support of a Porsche 944 in the newly formed SCCA Showroom Stock GT class resulted in great success. The year concluded at a large event with all the big hitters from the West at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma.
As an invited entrant for the SSGT support race, we enjoyed rubbing elbows with the SCCA Professional Trans Am Series participants who were the featured event. In another incredible sequence of events, an introduction through a long time friend managing the factory Chevrolet team of my client to David Hobbs led to the start of DDMS?s professional racing history. Building of an exact copy of the DeAtley Motorsports 1983 Trans Am championship winning Camaro was directed by Eastridge, completed during 1984 while continuing to manage an ongoing SCCA SSGT program, the new car was a great success. In 1987, with two successful years of both amateur and professional racing with the Camaro, the team was contracted to race a full season of Trans Am with sponsorship from Uniglobe Travel. A part of the deal was an engagement of Eastridge to manage the development of a six building industrial park in Chino, California for a client of the principal contracting for the season in Trans Am.
The development of the Orion Industrial Park in Chino included two buildings acquired by the local school district. This led to some additional work for the School District as a consultant. A comment by a School Board member suggested the private sector was much more efficient at delivering facilities than a public agency. That suggestion led to the evolution of efg/design development and the pioneering effort to privatize the delivery of public school facilities. By 1988, K-12 school facilities in California had become the challenge that was all consuming. Explosive growth in the population of school age children made school facilities a critical infrastructure element. Money was in short supply and costs of developing school facilities were rising quickly. At the intersection of demand and supply stood the homebuilder who was paying for a lot of school facilities. Representation of major developers of master planned communities and homebuilders led from a steady demand for mitigation strategic planning to the desired delivery of turn key facilities paid for by the homebuilder and created as the centerpiece of a new community.
Today, efg/design development provides a wide range of development services, primarily focused on fiduciary relationships to provide owners with comprehensive development solutions to complex facility needs. Activities in motorsports range from strategic planning to trackside support and hospitality services, continuing the tradition of relationships leading to great opportunities.