Cardinal Development Company was formed in 1986 by four Stanford alumni, hence the name “Cardinal.”
Peter C. Kremer, former President of the Irvine Company and Donald W. Carr, owner of 4 Day Tires Stores, Shamrock Golf and Dorman Winthrop, were old friends looking for something to do together on the backside of their careers. Carl Middleton and Tommy Rainy were the talented young bucks who were ready to leave the Irvine Company and create their own real estate empires.
During the 1980s, Cardinal built auto service centers in California under the Autoplex trademark. 4day Tire Stores was the anchor tenant and the concept was to provide a clean and convenient place for people to get their car serviced—and have a bite to eat or pick up a new set of golf clubs at Shamrock Golf while they waited. The concept was a hit in the affluent communities of Orange County and Northern California and ahead of its time in a business landscape where gas station mini-marts were just taking hold.
The 90s were a period of transition and retooling for Cardinal. Tommy Rainy and Carl Middleton left the company to pursue other ventures and Don Carr passed away after a long battle with leukemia in 1995. Signaling the end of an era, Cardinal built its last Autoplex in Valencia for Newhall Land and Farming in the early 90s.
During this time of change, promising new opportunities were also arising for the company. Following the departure of Carl Middleton, Scott Rimland became the President of Cardinal in 1995. Scott led the company during the lean years in real estate following the first Gulf War and S&L crisis when the company primarily focused on fee development. Then in the late 90s with the addition of Partner, David J. Seidner to Cardinal, Scott, David, and founder Peter Kremer shifted strategies to specialize in self-storage property acquisition and development.
Cardinal’s first two storage acquisitions were in Huntington Beach and Riverside and their first ground-up storage developments were in Costa Mesa and Valencia. Cardinal currently owns/manages 30 commercial properties and 12 storage businesses primarily under the Extra Storage trademark.