When Dean Dunphy was presented a lifetime achievement award from Lambda Alpha International, the honorary land economics society, it was appropriate the honor was presented at a Downtown San Diego hotel.

A successful general contractor in 1975, Dunphy was asked by then-Mayor Pete Wilson to join the board of the new Centre City Development Corp., Downtown’s redevelopment agency. With Dick Silberman out, Dunphy took the chair and held it for years, playing a critical role in remaking a Downtown where the warehouses and tattoo parlors were outnumbered by the porn palaces. Anyone who dreamed aloud of thousands of people flocking to tony urban condominium towers would have been accused of smoking something.

Dunphy stuck with it though, and was there when Nate Shapell and George Pardee broke ground on their Marina Park and Park Row condominiums, and again in 1982 when Ernie Hahn finally broke ground on Horton Plaza, kicking off modern-day Downtown San Diego redevelopment — big time.

Dean Dunphy, left, with the late Downtown developer Ernie Hahn.

Of course when Dunphy, 78, was honored last month at the Hyatt, it was for more than his work Downtown.

When his World War II Navy service was up, he took a job with pre-fab steel building maker Butler Manufacturing, moving five years later to Hillcrest to run Butler’s San Diego and Imperial counties franchise. His office was in the back of a VW Bus. The early 1960s were tough, but Dunphy’s honesty, low prices and quality got him the business of General Dynamics. Other industrial, commercial and institutional clients boosted his business, and at its peak Dunphy Construction was working on more than 30 buildings a year and employed more than 100 people. The San Diego Hospice was one of the company’s last big projects.

Dunphy’s community involvement included chairing the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, where he was one of the first to establish working relationships with businesses in Mexico.

In 1990, Dunphy retired, but not for long. Gov. Wilson named him cabinet secretary for Business, Transportation and Housing. A short 14 days after moving into his office, the Northridge Earthquake struck Los Angeles, collapsing some freeways. Within hours, Dunphy led a state construction team evaluating the damage and within days, after eschewing most of the bureaucratic paperwork during this official state of emergency, contracts were let, resulting in an infrastructure rebuilding of legend for its swift completion. Great bridges were built and the freeways re-opened in 63 days.

He stayed on the job, overseeing the strengthening of 2,200 bridges statewide and the widening of I-5 through Orange County.

State motorists and Downtown San Diego denizens should join in toasting his honor.