Cross-Border Real Estate: San Diego & Tijuana

Since 2005, Elias has been participating in Vesta Industrial Real Estate in Baja California. Vesta has an overall of 174 properties located across 12 states in Mexico. Recently, in August 2018 he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer for the company. Elias is an active member in several organizations, which their main objective is the promotion of the Industrial Economic development in the city of Tijuana. Prior to the formation of Vesta Baja California, Elias was a managing partner of Grupo La Mesa, a company that developed La Mesa Industrial Park and Nordika Industrial Park. Also he was part of Alepo construcciones. Both of this companies were founded by Elias in 1987. From 1972 to 1987, he gave his continous support to the maquiladora industry in the region. Also he was a pioneer in the development and installation of a variety of industrial plants in El Salvador and Costa Rica. In 1972, Elias graduated as Mechanical Electrical Engineer from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, taking post-graduate courses in Industrial Engineering at San Diego State University. He took the program of administration of Real Estate and business at Harvard University in 1972. Elias was appointed Honorary Consul of Norway for the States of Baja California and Sonora in 1990, honorary position granted by that country to date. He was the President of the accredited consular corps in Baja California. Former President and current Counselor of the Economic and Industrial Development of Tijuana (Tijuana EDC), private organization that promotes Industrial investment for the City. He is currently Co-chairman of the Smart Border Coalition, Councilor of the CDT and board member of Scotiabanck Inverlat.

A graduate of Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, David formed McCullough Landscape Architecture as a sole proprietorship in 1999 while consulting for another firm. After wife and partner, Catherine joined the business in 2001 and became Chief Executive Officer and President in 2002; the firm became a woman-owned corporation and a certified Small Business by the State of California. With offices in San Diego and the Bay Area, McCullough creates spaces for hospitality, retail, mixed-use and institutional properties around the world. As principal landscape architect, David oversees all aspects of the design and production of firm projects at McCullough. He serves as head designer on all projects and maintains quality control on all work completed. Previous projects have earned awards and recognition in several national publications. David finds time in his schedule to take leadership in creative organizations such as the the San Diego Architecture Foundation (SDAF) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) local Urban Design Committee. He currently serves as Chair of the Pecha Kucha Night program, which is on its sixth successful year. He finds it inspiring to take part in such a diverse mix of creative minds while bringing them together to share with the public their wild ideas. In addition, recently David was appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to serve on the Historical Resources Board as Chair, which governs the identification, protection, retention and preservation of historical sites in San Diego. Concurrently, he has been invited to serve on the city’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT). David’s design philosophy is centered around merging context and creative passion with grit, soul, and style. The firm takes every project with a uniquely creative approach that centers around diversity, discovery and conservation. David feels it’s important to engage the human spirit with nature, while expressing empathy. Recent projects include a large waterfront development in Shanghai, China, Seaport San Diego redevelopment, several multifamily projects in Calgary and Vancouver, along with other notable hospitality, entertainment, and mixed-use collaborations in the Western US and Canada.

John Galaxidas serves as Managing Principal of Synergy Real Estate Group and specializes in directing the activities of the company. John's extensive background includes all facets of corporate and commercial real estate acquisition, disposition, leasing, permitting, negotiation of utility, tax and economic development incentives, capital budgeting, merger & acquisitions portfolio management, construction management oversight and developing creative financing and occupancy structures on behalf of corporate clients.

Adriana Eguia has an Major in International business, an MBA and a Masters in Economic Development from CETYS University. She has 13 years of experience working with entrepreneurs. She was the head coordinator for a business incubator in Mexicali, Baja, worked with the Maquiladora Industry for a year and during the last 9 years, as the head of Endeavor which is a business accelerator project in developing countries. She also directed the Economic Development Institute within CETYS University and she's partner of a consulting firm for family based companies. Her last experience was as the executive director of Calibaja Bi-national Mega-region, a binational effort to brand the region.She´s now the executive director for Tijuana Economic Development Council. She considers herself as a binational agent and promoter of the Calibaja Mega Region. In 2015 she was one of 10 binational speakers for TEDx Monumento 258, event that was held in the border fence between San Diego, CA and Tijuana, Baja California. In 2017 she was elected by Expansion magazine as one of the 30 promises to promote change in Mexico, elected also as part of the Hall of Fame for the City of Tijuana and mentioned as character of the year. She has been an academic for the following subjects: International business, Business Strategy, Business Plan development and Advanced English. She´s married and has 2 young children, Maximiliano age 4 and Antonella age 1.