Sauce Gardner is taking a Detroit contractor to court, accusing him of blowing through hundreds of thousands of dollars meant to restore a century-old apartment building in the cornerback's hometown. The Indianapolis Colts star filed a lawsuit seeking $1.4 million from Nicholas Sanborn and Sanborn Construction Group, claiming the contractor took his money, ignored his calls, and kept working even after being told to stop.
According to the lawsuit, first reported by TMZ, Gardner bought a 102-year-old historic apartment building in Detroit in May 2026, paying over $900,000 as part of a $935,000 property deal. He hired Sanborn as general contractor and wired him a $500,000 renovation deposit for the first phase of work, which was supposed to cover windows, roofing, doors, and framing. Sanborn reportedly assured Gardner the project would be completed within months.
The relationship between the two men began casually, with Gardner and Sanborn connecting on social media in March 2026 before the deal came together. Gardner alleges he was also told an adjacent property near the building was available for purchase, a claim he says turned out to be false. That detail lines up with a June 2026 YouTube video posted by Sanborn Construction Group, in which Sanborn pitched Gardner on acquiring vacant land off Woodward Avenue to build paid parking lots for the project.
Deposit Spent Weeks After Work Was Halted
By July 2026, Gardner says he had grown frustrated enough to order Sanborn to cease all work and return his $500,000. Instead, according to the lawsuit, Sanborn Construction spent $160,000 of that money on materials at Home Depot just 16 days after Gardner gave the stop-work order. Gardner claims the contractors have since refused to return the deposit at all, and that he received no calls or progress photos as the project stalled.
Gardner is suing for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. He is demanding the return of all his money plus additional damages, and filed the complaint in Wayne County. He is represented by Ben Levine of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. In a statement quoted by TMZ, Gardner did not mince words about the ordeal, saying simply, “You screwed me!”
Gardner's Name Used to Promote the Project Online
Beyond the money, Gardner also accuses Sanborn Construction of using his name and likeness to promote the company without his permission. A YouTube video titled “Completely Restoring An Abandoned 102 Year Old Historic Apartment Building With Sauce Gardner,” posted by Sanborn Construction Group in May 2026, drew more than 110,000 views while featuring the cornerback's name in its title. TMZ reported that the defendant had not responded to the allegations as of publication.
The dispute unfolds against a backdrop of stepped-up scrutiny of Detroit's rental housing stock. In June 2026, the city's Buildings, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department identified 27 chronic apartment building code violators, part of a broader push toward legal enforcement and nuisance lawsuits against non-compliant residential properties, according to CBS News. Sanborn Construction Group had also been active for years soliciting full-rehab projects for blighted and abandoned Detroit properties through local investor networks on social media, per a Facebook post reviewed as part of the coverage.
What Michigan Law Says About Misused Deposits
Michigan law offers Gardner more than just a civil remedy. Under the state's Building Contract Fund Act and Occupational Code, converting or diverting funds paid for a specific construction project to other uses can trigger state administrative license sanctions, civil liability, and even criminal felony prosecution punishable by up to three years in prison, according to legal guidance published by Szura Delonis. Separately, the Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes has long advised property owners never to pay for an entire construction job upfront, recommending instead that payments be structured conditionally as work progresses to guard against exactly this kind of dispute.
Gardner's Detroit roots run deep. Born in the city in August 2001, he starred at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, leading the team to the 2018 Michigan Division 2 State Championship before heading to the University of Cincinnati. Detroit has produced more active NFL players than any other American city, with 19 on opening-week rosters as of 2023 data, according to the Associated Press.
A Career Built on Record Contracts
Gardner's financial standing makes the $1.4 million lawsuit a fraction of his overall earnings. In July 2025, he signed a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension with $85.5 million in guarantees, making him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history at an average annual value of $30.1 million, according to SNY. He was then traded from the New York Jets to the Indianapolis Colts in November 2025 in a deal involving two first-round draft picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, as reported by Fox Sports.
It remains unclear whether Sanborn or his construction firm will file a formal response in Wayne County court, or whether state licensing authorities will open a separate regulatory investigation into how the deposit money was spent. For now, Gardner's lawsuit stands as the only public account of what happened to the historic building he hoped would become a hometown investment.
