D.C. United is on the verge of being sold to an investment group with local ties. Okay, so we’ve heard this before. In July, 2005, the team was sold to an investment group led by local real estate investor Willi Lauterbach for $26 million. In what has become somewhat of a mystery, the deal fell through as in-fighting sprouted up amongst the investment group.

With current ownership group AEG still looking to sell the team, the Washington Post reports that a deal is imminent. This time around, the investment group is led by Brian Davis, a former basketball player at Duke who was raised in Prince George’s County.

Davis, a Bladensburg High graduate and managing partner of Blue Devil Ventures, a community development company based in Durham, N.C., told the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper earlier this week that a deal for United “will be announced this month. . . . We’re buying the team for $33 million.”

We don’t know how this will affect the proposed soccer-specific stadium at Poplar Point, but we’re optimistic that a regime change would increase the chances of shaking the stadium’s current developmental standstill.