C# Accessing a network path

I have a database network path stored in an app config file.  But I'm having an  issue once this path is put to a variable.  If not in a variable, it works fine.

This works:
@"\\10.252.5.44\pc2fin\...\dealer.mdb"

But, once in a variable, this does not work:
@databasePath  

I've tried adding the extra slashes in the app config file but that doesn't work either.