By Gary Shaw

So Jason Hughes Gives Birth To The Children’s Museum. He comes to terms with CCDC, Torrey Pines Bank, Erickson Hall, Irwin and Joan Jacobs and even Doug Hutcheson.

When last we visited at length with Downtown San Diego’s previously most painful project, the board of the San Diego’s Children Museum and staff of the Centre City Development Corp. were putting on good faces, trying to move beyond the loggerheads.

Previously, the Children’s Museum board complained that CCDC’s well-publicized threat to seize the museum’s property at Front Street and Island Avenue for $10 by May 12, 2005, if sufficient funds were not in hand, had all but frozen the interest of donors, and further, that title to the property was so encumbered by CCDC that no lender would lend. CCDC was convinced that the museum board was incapable of raising sufficient funds. The project was going nowhere fast.

Jason Hughes, principal of the tenant-representation real estate brokerage The Irving Hughes Group, had served on the Children’s Museum board for one year, usually quietly, usually in dismay. Asked by his predecessor to succeed him, he was persuaded by CCDC to take the “volunteer” job, otherwise it would shut down the project.

Pretty good under pressure, Hughes accepted reluctantly. Now, five quarters later: Erickson Hall, the general contractor, is on site at work under a guaranteed maximum contract, more than $8 million of fresh donations are in the bank, and a $10 million construction loan from Torrey Pines Bank is secured by the property. Meanwhile, his firm, The Irving Hughes Group, has come off a record year with the value of total transactions up 15.2 percent to $581 million. So his partner Craig Irving nominated him – and a panel of independent judges selected him – as the first 40 Under 40 honoree to receive the award a second time.

And it’s a good thing, too. At age 39, Hughes wouldn’t be eligible next year.

“No, I didn’t realize he was still in his 30s; that’s amazing,” says Rob Wellington Quigley, the architect for the Children’s Museum who watched Hughes in action as Hughes, museum Executive Director Kay Wagner and Quigley met for an hour with Joan and Irwin Jacobs. At the Jacobs’ La Jolla home, Wagner talked about the arts and education programs, Quigley shared his vision for Downtown’s first “green” building, a 50,000-square-foot facility including an 8,000-square-foot Museum School, and Hughes quietly laid out details of the financing he was putting in place. “He was articulate and enthusiastic without being pushy and seems to have a natural command of numbers,” says Quigley of Hughes.

“Irwin called two days later and told me that he and Joan wanted to help,” says Hughes. “The donation they agreed to was $2.5 million immediately, at the beginning of January, and a matching gift of $2.5 million. I sent out about 250 letters to past supporters of the museum and several of the recipients called. One family pledged $250,000. Many other families gave significantly less. One particular family asked if they could meet with me to discuss it further. After several meetings, this generous family (anonymously) donated $2 million and another family donated $500,000 in order to meet the $2.5 million matching gift from the Jacobs. Altogether we raised nearly $9 million when you factor in the recent $1 million donation from Leap Wireless through Doug Hutcheson.”

A former president of the museum himself, Hutcheson had greeted Hughes’ election as board president with skepticism. The love was mutual. But the two began talking. Now they’re mutual admirers.

“I used Doug as a sounding board over the last year,” says Hughes. “He would explain why something had been done the way it was…Then he donated $1 million. So despite me thinking he was (less than perfect) in the past, I really appreciate him now. What I did was very tough – and had I not been an expert in real estate and finance, I’m not sure I could have done it. Reflecting back on Gary Shaw (who served as president between Hughes and Hutcheson) and Doug and others trying to figure this out without my expertise, it was virtually impossible.”

Hutcheson is CEO of Leap Wireless International and the architect of its rescue from bankruptcy. But Hughes specifically is a real estate expert, with his strongest reputation made in Downtown, a skilled negotiator and exactly what the museum needed.

Hughes, wife Shay and their three children live in the covenant in Rancho Santa Fe. While landlords and competitors know Hughes as a tough guy, he sounds pretty wholesome when it comes to home life.

“My No. 1 priority is my family,” says Hughes. “All of my time outside of my professional work is committed to my family. I am blessed to have an incredible wife and three fantastic children. I am extremely proud of them and nothing makes me happier than spending every extra moment with them.”

“My No. 2 priority but No. 1 professional priority, is providing our clients with stellar and unmatched commercial real estate representation. Our company is solely committed to only representing tenants in their lease and purchase transactions – never landlords. 1 believe emphatically that tenants need unbiased, untainted and 100 percent conflict-free representation against landlords – as landlords and tenants have diametrically opposite goals and objectives.”

Indeed, Hughes’ professional accomplishments are what earned him the 40 Under 40 recognition originally in 2001. In 2006, the judges cited his civic accomplishment, the successful financing of the Children’s Museum on top of his continued professional success.

A maturing Hughes finds plenty of credit to go around. The construction management team at The Irving Hughes Group, “is awesome and is saving the museum a ton of money and keeping us on schedule,” says Hughes. “Dave Weigel, project manager, and Mike Hall, principal, both deserve credit at Erickson Hall.”

Of Wagner, the executive director, Hughes says, “Without her, the thread that held the museum together would have come undone. She administers the museum day in and out.”

He says Torrey Pines Bank, where Hughes serves on the board, “stepped up and agreed to the entire $10 million that we needed. Torrey gave us a very competitive deal and they have also already donated back to the museum…. Most of my negotiations were with John Massab,” senior vice president and the C Street branch manager Downtown.

The museum had $1.5 million in the bank when Hughes took over, and now has more than $8 million in donations in hand, plus access to the $10 million loan. The remaining construction cost is $15 million plus $1 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment. The museum had to pay off $1 million to secure all its parking spaces from Pinnacle Development, will have $1 million left over for miscellaneous expenses and $1 million in working capital.

Hughes is most laudatory toward Pam Hamilton, the retiring executive vice president of CCDC.

“I worked closely with Pam. She is truly unbelievable. I’m not sure how she is able to keep track of the vast amounts of information she stores in her head; she really is a very impressive person.

“As for lifting the zoning restrictions in the event of default, Pam understood that any credible lender would require that the project be unencumbered from zoning restrictions in the event of default. Lenders needed to know that the property could be sold for ‘highest and best use’ – and not be limited to non-profit museums. It was a complicated process, but Pam was working with me on this issue, not against me.”

The new museum should open for business late next year, finally rescuing Kay Wagner, her crew, the Museum School, its staff and its students from cramped temporary space at Maple Street and Third Avenue. Most importantly, the facility promises to be a magnet of creativity for children, available at low cost, right on the trolley tracks and across Harbor Drive from Seaport Village. The hospitality industry soon enough will discover the museum as a huge attraction to families visiting in thousands of hotel rooms within walking distance.

Unless Hughes ducks out, which isn’t likely as long as he remains on the Torrey Pines Bank board, his job won’t be done when the doors open. The museum has about seven years to pay back the $10 million loan.