Jason Hughes is the co-founder and principal of Irving Hughes, a commercial real estate company specializing in tenant and buyer representation.

Since 1993, Irving Hughes has negotiated many of the largest tenant lease transactions in Downtown San Diego and in the Golden Triangle, and the company is involved in more than $500 million of commercial real estate transactions annually. Over the course of his career, Hughes, 39, has transacted leases and purchases for more than 10 million square feet of real estate. (Please see the cover story on Page 56.)

About his successful 13-year partnership with Craig Irving and his 17-year marriage, Hughes says, “I like commitment.”

His latest Downtown feat has been rescuing the San Diego Children’s Museum from death’s door. “I had to go into triage mode,” he says. “The Centre City Development Corp. was going to take back the property, and I had to convince them that things would change, after almost five years of no money.”

Hughes spearheaded an $8 million fund-raising effort for the Museum, and structured a $10 million construction loan with Torrey Pines Bank, where he sits on the board.

In addition to his Children’s Museum rescue, Hughes has served the community as a board member of the Downtown San Diego Partnership and the Rancho Santa Fe Community School Endowment.

In his spare time, Hughes says he likes to relax with his wife and three children at their home in Rancho Santa Fe.