A co-founder of a New York condominium developer appears ready to dissolve the company.
Peter Guthrie filed a lawsuit that seeks to terminate DDG Partners, or at least a limited liability company associated with the firm, PincusCo reported. The suit also seeks $1.5 million in damages.
The filing is a summons, rather than a formal complaint, so information is limited. But the defendants in the lawsuit are the three others who co-founded the company in 2009: Joseph McMillan, Christopher Prokop and John Keeler.
DDG did not return a request for comment from The Real Deal. Nor did Guthrie, McMillan or Prokop. Keeler could not immediately be reached.
The company has offices in California and Florida, but some of its most prominent projects have been in New York. They include 41 Bond Street, 12 Warren Street, 100 Franklin Street and 180 East 88th Street, an Upper East Side project that drew community outcry over its height and design. Just last year, its penthouse sold for $24.7 million, 15 percent below an already-reduced asking price.
The firm’s most recent project appears to be 532 West 20th Street, a nine-unit, 11-story luxury condo in Chelsea. DDG filed plans for the project in 2020 and construction was wrapping up in 2021, according to YIMBY. DDG hasn’t publicly put forward any new projects since 2020, according to PincusCo.
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Many of the co-founders appear to have moved on. Former chief executive officer McMillan is in charge of another development firm, Azur. Guthrie co-founded design studio Yellowtrees, while Prokop is an associate broker with Serhant.
This isn’t the first dispute involving the DDG partnership. In 2015, senior adviser Keeler brought a case against company executives to arbitration, alleging they wrongfully accused him of not doing his job and tried to squeeze him out of his 20 percent interest in the company.
The arbitration panel ruled in Keeler’s favor in 2016 and confirmed the award — unopposed — a year later.