There’s a battle brewing on Manhattan’s West Side between  “Jay-Z” (also known as Shawn Carter) and Highland (Highland) Capital Management LP — a bank located Dallas, Texas, that granted the superstar hip-hopper and his business partners a $52 million loan to build the J Hotel.

Despite his best efforts, it appears that the super successful businessman (he also co-owns several businesses, including The 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets) might not be able to freestyle his way out of losing millions on a deal that never got off the ground.

Literally.

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This is certainly not the encore Nicolas Cage anticipated for his Academy Award-winning performance in “Leaving Las Vegas.”

Las Vegas Sun reports that a 14,300-square-foot “Sin City” home that Cage purchased for $8.5 million in 2006 was recently sold for $4.95 million.

The six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half bathroom “sprawling mansion,” which is located at 5100 Spanish Heights Drive, was repossessed by the lender in Dec. 2009 when Cage failed to meet his mortgage obligations.

Cage, unfortunately, is no stranger to foreclosure lately.

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Whistler Blackcomb, the official ski resort for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, has been issued a notice of default because of a missed $524 million debt payment, according to CNBC.com.

This news comes comes less than one month from the lighting of the Olympic Flame on Feb. 12, 2010. Intrawest, the debtor, purchased the resort from Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation in 1997.

Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski area in North America with more than 8,000 mountainous acres.  It will host the alpine skiing events, as well as bobsled, luge and skeleton.

Even though the creditors have the option to auction Whistler Blackcomb on Feb. 19 (right in the middle of the games) , it should not have any impact on the actual events that take place during the XXI Olympic Winter Games.

The timing certainly creates quite an incredible marketing opportunity.

Nine-year National Football League (NFL) veteran, Luther Elliss, is on the verge of losing his Detroit, Mich.,-area home in Oakland Township to foreclosure, according to The Detroit News.

Elliss — who was paid almost $11.6 million from 2000-04 as a member of the Detroit Lions — has a $1.6 million loan on the home. Unfortunately, he’s now upside-down on the loan because, according to recent estimates, it  would sell for just about half as much today ($800,000) if listed on the market.

Accordingly, he has had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, listing $4.4 million in liabilities against $1.38 million in assets.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection (1999 and 2000) was apparently warned earlier in his career that financial distress was a very real possibility:

“The Lions did a good job, they put on financial programs that we had to attend talking about investing and saving money, gave statistics on how many of us would be broke. Guys were saying, ‘It’s not going to be me, I’m too smart for that.’ And here I am, one of those guys.”

Elliss reportedly invested his fortune into several business ventures that eventually went belly up, including a manufacturing company called Trinity Armor.

He — along with his wife and their 11 children — plan to walk away from the Oakland Township home and start over. Elliss currently earns a $347,410 annual pension from the NFL, which will hopefully keep the family afloat during this difficult time.

To check out other celebrity-type foreclosures, including the field where Elliss spent most of his playing days inside the Silverdome, click here.

Everything is bigger in Texas … even the foreclosures.

The Dallas Morning News reports today that the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas (Four Seasons) — a 400-acre hotel, spa and golf club — is possibly headed to a public foreclosure auction on Feb. 2, 2010, if a $183 million loan on the property is not brought current and/or repaid.

It’s the largest foreclosure in the “Lone Star State” in more than two decades, according to George Roddy:

“I don’t think we’ve seen one this large in the business cycle. That’s a very big complex.”

The good news is that resort ownership was expecting the notice as it negotiates a debt restructure deal with the lender. And it is confident that a deal will be struck soon that resolves “the challenges of the current situation.”

Regardless of the outcome, the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship will go on as planned from May 17-23, 2010, giving 2009 winner Rory Sabbatini the opportunity to secure back-to-back titles.

Four Seasons has been the home of the annual Byron Nelson Championship since 1994.