From:
http://www.11alive.com/11at7/article.aspx?storyid=142374&catid=352TUCKER, Ga. -- Those who play Celebrity International golf course, located just outside the perimeter near Tucker, say it's a mostly undiscovered jewel, and one of golf's more challenging courses.
"Number five, the par three over there? I've seen people five putt it," said Jerry Gilmartin, one of the marshals of the course. Martin says the course, with its hills and "undulating greens," humbles the best of golfers.
Four years ago, the course caught the eye of Julius Erving, the pro basketball Hall of Famer known as "Doctor J." Erving invested three million dollars in it -- and the investment, he says, quickly turned disastrous.
"What went wrong was, from day one, I was somewhat duped into believing there was a value associated with the property," Erving says.
Now Erving says his investment money is gone -- lost, he says, by those who cut the business deal and ran the golf course.
"There was definitely an inside relationship with my partner, who was one of my best friends and my daughter's Godfather... he was the linchpin," said Erving.
11Alive News was unable to reach the partner. An attorney for the company that financed the deal declined comment.
Next week the 240 acre, 27 hole golf course will be sold in foreclosure on the steps of the Gwinnett County courthouse.
Erving's attorney, Dorna Taylor, says "he was doomed to fail from the beginning."
Erving says his investment experience has been a sobering, cautionary tale for a guy accustomed to success -- now living his own real estate nightmare.
"The bottom line was, it was a bad partner and it was a bad deal," said Erving.
Erving's attorney expects to file a lawsuit after the property is sold at auction.