NFL All-Pro cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner is suing a Farmington Hills construction company for $1.4 million claiming breach of contract and fraud related to the planned renovation of a Detroit investment property.
Sanborn Construction Grouphas also sued Gardner, claiming the Detroit native and former Detroit King High School star misled the company and breached the contract because he wanted his "friends" to serve as general contractor on the project.
The dueling lawsuits center on the vacant 1920s era Bonita apartments building at 69 Seward Street. The 44-unit building is just west of Woodward, about five blocks north of the Fisher Building.
Nick Sanborn, CEO of Sanborn Construction Group, declined to comment on the case.
"We filed our breach
of contract lawsuit first and our complaint is public info," Sanborn told the Free Press in an email. "Other than that we have no comment."
Filings in Wayne County Circuit Court show Sanborn's suit was filed at 8:43 a.m. on Aug. 10. Gardner filed his that afternoon.
Gardner said he bought the property in May for $935,000 because he wanted to give back to his hometown. He said he had heard of Mayor Mary Sheffield's vision to build 1,000 homes in Detroit
"I was like, OK, while she's doing a thousand homes in Detroit, I could look for some properties that are like vacant or that need to be rehabbed and stuff like that," Gardner told the Free Press on Thursday, Aug. 27.
Gardner said he reached out to Sanborn Construction after seeing their social media videos describing the rehab work they do.
The complaint says that Gardner wired $500,000 to Sanborn and that the parties had an oral agreement on how the work would proceed.
"No written agreement exists between plaintiff and defendants for the renovation work at the project," according to the complaint.
Sanborn's complaint disputes that, claiming that in May, it provided Gardner with a "General Services Agreement as it relates to phase I work," which it described as exterior work including installing windows and doors and repairing the roof and masonry.
Gardner claims that soon after the wire transfer Sanborn posted a video on YouTube about the project, which capitalized on Gardner's "celebrity and notoriety as an All-Pro NFL player to promote defendant's social media presence."
But after that, the complaint says, Sanborn more or less ghosted Gardner, rarely returning his calls for updates. When he did, he assured Gardner that work was progressing, according to the complaint. The suit also claims that Sanborn used some of Gardner's money to pay subcontractors deposits of 50%, 60% and even 80% before any work had been done.
The suit seeks at least $1.4 million in damages from Sanborn.
Sanborn's complaint offers a far different version of events, claiming that it performed a walk-through with Gardner to discuss the first phase of work. In one of his videos, Sanborn can be seen walking through the building discussing the project.
"So we paid about $900,000 for it," Sanborn can be seen saying. "And we've got the renovation at about $2.5 million. So $3.5 million all in, and I think the (after repair value) of this place is easily north of $4 (million), probably north of $5 (million) especially being a trophy asset downtown. So it's a big margin, but, big project."
Sanborn's lawsuit used different figures, saying in the project agreement, the "cost to complete the project was believed to exceed $8 million."
Gardner said that he understood the renovation costs to be about $2.5 million total.
"What would I look like putting $8 million into this?" Gardner said. "I could build a whole new building for $8 million."
Gardner said that the project is progressing. On Aug. 27, lights were on inside the building and a worker could be seen throwing debris from the roof down into a dumpster beside the building. A sign over the door said the project was being done by Supreme Construction Group, which Gardner said he is now a partner in.
Supreme used YouTube to tout the project as well, including updates on the roof and interior work.
Gardner said that he expects the project to be completed in spring 2027. He said he regrets not have more in writing.
"It was just, it was one of those things where, I'm not going to say I trusted him, but I mean, I kind of did," Gardner said. "I wasn't eventually going to have an agreement when it came to the actual construction work getting done. But that was just mainly for materials."
Gardner said that he's learned important lessons from the project.
"Just because you got good intentions, and great intentions, that don't mean that everybody else does,' he said. "Especially when it comes to giving back to the city of Detroit."
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How a Detroit reno project snagged a homegrown NFL star
