Laettner, Davis Allegedly Owe Millions to Business Associates

By Evan Mix

Published on July 02, 2009

Christian Laettner and Brian Davis, teammates on Duke University's 1992 NCAA-championship-winning basketball team and veterans of the NBA, are named in millions of dollars in lawsuits from multiple litigants. The suits are linked to a commercial real estate development deal the two have spearheaded in Durham, NC. At this point, the pair face at least $6 million in claims from at least five parties who claim they failed to repay loans intended to finance the project.

The development in downtown Durham, known as West Village, is an effort to convert an abandoned tobacco factory into a mixed-use facility housing restaurants, offices, and apartments. The project has an estimated price tag of $170 million. It has been in development since 1995, when Laettner and Davis formed Blue Devil Ventures around the idea of renovating abandoned factories to rejuvenate a city once dependent on the tobacco industry. The first phase of West Village was finished in 2000 and the second was completed in 2006; the expansion project at the heart of the lawsuits has been delayed by funding problems and is ongoing.

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