Roy Donahue "Don" Peebles (born March 2, 1960) is an American real estate entrepreneur, author, and political fundraiser. He is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the Peebles Corporation, a privately held real estate investment and development company established in 1983. The firm focuses on luxury commercial and residential developments in major U.S. cities including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Miami.
In a 2008 interview with Forbes, he stated that his net worth was approximately $60 million.[1] However, a 2015 Forbes profile estimated his net worth at over $700 million.[2]
Background
Peebles was born in Washington, D.C. to Ruth Yvonne Willoughby and Roy Donahue Peebles, Sr.[3] Peebles and his mother, a real estate professional, relocated to Detroit, MI when he was eight years old. At the age of 13, Peebles and his mother returned to DC where he completed high school at The Congressional Page High School while serving as a congressional page in the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill. During this time, he was an intern for two members of Congress and also worked as a staff aide for another Congressional member.[4] He attended Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey where he studied pre-medicine.[5]
Career
On January 9, 1983, at the age of 23, Peebles opened his own residential and commercial real estate appraisal firm. Later that year, Mayor Marion Barry appointed him to Washington's real estate tax appeals board, the Board of Equalization and Review, now known as the Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals. The following year, Mayor Barry appointed him Chairperson of the board[6] where he served until 1988. In 1986, a Peebles-led partnership acquired the site for his first commercial real estate development project.[5]
Through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the District of Columbia, Peebles delivered his first Class A building in 1989.[7]
In 1990, Peebles founded RDP Assessment Appeals Services, a Washington-based commercial tax assessment appeals firm. He continued to acquire commercial buildings and development sites, primarily throughs PPPs in Washington, D.C. throughout the 1990s, including 10 G Street NE, 59 M Street, and the Courtyard by Marriott Convention Center Hotel. In 1996, Peebles won the development rights to the 1930s Royal Palm Hotel in Miami Beach. This landmark deal distinguished Peebles as the nation's first African American to own and develop a major hotel. He sold The Royal Palm Hotel in December 2004 for $127.5 million.[8]
In 1999, Peebles purchased The Bath Club, an exclusive social club opened in 1926, after becoming the first black member in 1996.[9] Peebles built a luxury residential tower on the site of the club's former parking lot and tennis courts and preserved the historic clubhouse. The project was completed in 2005.[10][11] The Bath Club site expands 5 acres, plus 3 acres of beach, including 540 feet of beachfront along the Atlantic Ocean, as well as 20,000 feet of indoor and outdoor private event space, a spa, a fitness center, two clay tennis courts, and a fine dining restaurant-lounge.[9][12][13]
Bath Club Sanctions and Legal Dispute
In 2021, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman ruled that Bath Club Entertainment, LLC (BCE), affiliated with developer Don Peebles, failed to comply with a prior sanctions order requiring it to provide outdoor food and beverage services and maintain cabanas at The Bath Club in Miami Beach. The court imposed a $1.01 million sanction, calculated at $1,000 per day for 1,010 days of noncompliance between 2017 and 2020.[14]
The dispute stemmed from a 2013 arbitration award enforcing a 2010 settlement agreement, which BCE had failed to uphold. An appeal by BCE claiming the standards were vague was rejected, and the sanction was upheld by the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.[15][16]
District of Columbia Lawsuits
In 2010, Peebles' company was sued by the D.C. Attorney General for alleged billing issues. Peebles claimed that the charges were politically motivated due to his opposition to then Mayor Adrian Fenty's failed re-election bid earlier that year. The court dismissed most of the claims against Peebles.[17] The suit was settled in 2012 for $120,000, a fraction of the initial claim. The court accepted the settlement, and dismissed the over-billing claims as moot.[18]
In 2014, Peebles, along with development partners, responded to a Request for Proposal to redevelop the LICH hospital site, but were unable to come to terms on the deal. Peebles alleged the site was environmentally uncertain after SUNY stopped negotiating with the partnership.[19] SUNY publicly claimed Peebles failed to act in good faith.[20] Although Peebles launched a formal bid protest, a Judge ruled that SUNY acted reasonably and that Peebles did not act in good faith in responding to the RFP.[21][22]
5th and I Street Lawsuit Against the District of Columbia
In 2022, The Peebles Corporation, led by developer Don Peebles, filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia over the failed redevelopment of a city-owned parcel at 5th and I Streets NW. The project, awarded to Peebles' team in 2014, aimed to transform the vacant lot into a $150 million luxury hotel and condominium complex. However, the deal collapsed in 2019.
Peebles alleged that political interference by D.C. officials, particularly Neil Albert, a former deputy mayor and then-chair of the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, undermined the project. The lawsuit claims that Albert and his associates influenced the city to block Peebles from removing a non-performing minority-owned Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) partner, The Walker Group (TWG), which had failed to meet key financial and development obligations. Peebles sought approximately $72.4 million in damages for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. In February 2025, a D.C. Superior Court judge denied the city's motion for summary judgment, allowing the case to proceed toward a potential jury trial.[23][24]
Angels Landing Lawsuit Against the City of Los Angeles
In early 2025, Don Peebles and Victor MacFarlane, through their joint venture Angels Landing Partners, filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles over the termination of their $1.6 billion Angels Landing development agreement. The city had informed the developers in July 2023 that the transfer of interests from their minority partner, Claridge Properties, to Peebles and MacFarlane constituted an unauthorized "transfer," leading to the city's termination of the exclusive negotiating agreement in February 2024. The developers contend that the city's actions were unjustified and seek to recoup their $20 million investment in the project.[25]
Bankhead MARTA
In October 2022, he entered into a joint venture with Bankhead MARTA development project. Peebles is to redevelop 3.8 acres of land along with air-rights above the Bankhead MARTA rail station, as a mixed-use transit-oriented community including approximately 490+ multi-family housing units. The concept also includes retail, hotel, office, parking, and open spaces.[26][27]
His ongoing development projects, most of which are PPPs, include 108 Leonard Street (a.k.a. 346 Broadway), a joint venture with El-Ad Group, consisting of luxury condominiums in Manhattan's landmarked Clocktower Building, which was completed in 2020;[28]Angels Landing in Los Angeles;[29] and Brooklyn Village in Charlotte, North Carolina,[30][31] As master developer of the Charlotte site, Peebles will develop some of the parcels and sell others to third party developers.[32][33] Peebles also has projects in various stages of development in Boston and Atlanta.[34][35]
Peebles has been politically engaged since the 1970s. He served on President Bill Clinton's national finance committee during the 1992 presidential race,[5] joined his Economic Summit in Arkansas that same year, and has hosted President Clinton at his homes on several occasions. He was a member of President Barack Obama's National Finance Committee for the President's 2008 election and his 2012 reelection campaign.[39] In May 2008, Peebles hosted then Senator Obama for a campaign fundraiser at The Bath Club in Miami Beach and later hosted President Obama at the Peebles' home in Washington, D.C. for a campaign fundraiser on August 8, 2011.[40]
In 2010, he announced that he had considered running to become mayor of Washington,[41] but he decided against it due to his mother-in-law's terminal illness.[42] He had also publicly considered running for Mayor of New York City.[43]
In 2013, he was elected vice chairman of the board of directors of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.[44] In July 2015, he was elevated to chairperson of the CBCF's board of directors and re-elected in February 2016, a role he held until February 2017. Peebles is the only non-member of Congress to be elected to the position of Chairperson of the CBCF.[45]
In 2014, according to Peebles, Mayor DeBlasio contacted Peebles for a $20,000 donation to support the mayor's universal pre-K program, UPKNYC, which is now shut down. That same year, a Peebles-led team responded to an RFP to redevelop Long Island Community Hospital. SUNY Downstate Medical Center ended talks with Peebles over an impasse about remediation costs on May 28, 2014 and later made a deal with Fortis Property Group. According to media reports, the Peebles team's proposal was ranked higher than that of Fortis.[46]
Peebles frequently appears on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and other networks to discuss political, economic and business issues.[47] As an advocate for economic empowerment, Peebles and his wife, Katrina Peebles, have supported both parties, in various congressional, mayoral, gubernatorial, and presidential elections over the years.[48] He supports small business and minority-focused initiatives emerging from The White House with a focus on policy change rather than political affiliation.[49]
In a 2024 interview on Fox Business, Peebles expressed frustration with the Democratic Party's direction and leadership. He criticized the party for becoming disconnected from its traditional base and called for a generational change in leadership. Specifically, Peebles argued that Democrats should "turn the page" on President Joe Biden and bring in new candidates who could better address national concerns and challenge Trump effectively in the 2024 election cycle.[50]
Peebles has also defended Trump in the context of the president's legal battles in New York. After a New York judge imposed a $355 million fine on Trump in a civil fraud case, Peebles argued that the ruling appeared to be politically motivated. He characterized the judgment as “so wrong” and suggested it was a targeted effort to cause Trump pain before the appeals process could unfold.[51]
Personal life
Peebles currently lives in Miami Beach, Florida, Sag Harbor, NY and New York City with his wife Katrina, a former PR executive, whom he married in 1992.[52][53] She is an interior designer and serves as the creative director and principal of The Peebles Corporation. [54]
Peebles' son is a Columbia University graduate and is currently working at The Peebles Corporation, where he is leading the company's national development efforts[55][56] His daughter is a national hunt seat equestrian competitor.[57]
Writing
The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch. R. Donahue Peebles with J. P. Faber. John Wiley and Sons (2007). ISBN0-470-09930-5.
The Peebles Path to Real Estate Wealth: How to Make Money in Any Market. R. Donahue Peebles with J. P. Faber. John Wiley and Sons (2008). ISBN0-470-37280-X.
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