About

Donahue Peebles, III has built his career at the intersection of large-scale real estate development and housing access, leading organizations that range from national commercial development to affordable housing to direct eviction prevention. Across each of these roles, his focus stays consistent: building the kind of city where working families can actually afford to live.

As Chief Operating Officer of The Peebles Corporation, Peebles manages the company’s day-to-day operations and oversees execution across its national portfolio. He is responsible for optimizing organizational performance, streamlining development workflows, and delivering on a multi-billion-dollar pipeline of projects. He pursues off-market transactions and public-private partnerships in the company’s key markets, and his role spans asset management, capital markets, and construction oversight — advancing projects through strategic partnerships, hands-on project management, and community engagement.

He also serves as Chairman and CEO of Legacy Real Estate Development, The Peebles Corporation’s affordable housing division, which develops and acquires low-income housing across ten markets in six states, including South Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and the New York tri-state area.

Peebles chairs the board of Sheltered Futures, a Miami Beach-based nonprofit addressing the city’s housing crisis at its most urgent point. As rents have outpaced wages, more families than ever are one financial setback away from losing their homes — and eviction doesn’t just displace people, it disrupts jobs, education, and entire communities. Sheltered Futures intervenes before that happens, providing fast, direct rental assistance through a simple, no-barrier process that gets funds to landlords within 14 days. Under Peebles’ board leadership, the organization keeps families stable and kids in school, working to ensure Miami Beach remains a place where people can afford to live and work.

Peebles is a frequent participant in business summits, entrepreneurial forums, and real estate panels, representing The Peebles Corporation, Legacy, and Sheltered Futures in the public sphere. He is equally active in philanthropic work in Washington, D.C. and New York City, with particular attention to youth development and entrepreneurship access. He is a committed advocate for affordable housing and economic equity, and works to expand opportunities for Black- and minority-owned businesses nationwide — work recognized with the 2023 Affordable Housing Trailblazer Award and features in the Commercial Observer Power 100 and Haute Living 100.

His community involvement includes support for the NYC Mission Society, Best Buddies, and Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E., along with board service at Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and the Silver Arts Project.

Peebles holds a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University, where he received the George William Curtis Prize in Oration.