The East Lakeshore Drive home of former Thinkstream executive Barry Bellue is scheduled to be auctioned at a sheriff’s sale on Aug. 24.
According to court documents, Bellue is in default on his mortgage and owes U.S. National Bank more than $515,918 plus interest, which has been accruing at a rate of 2.6% since April 2016. The 4,635-square-foot home is on the market for $950,000.
Currently, the house is under contract to a buyer and the deal is expected to close by the end of the month. If the sale goes forward as planned, the debt to U.S. Bank would presumably be satisfied and the home would be removed from the list of properties scheduled for auction.
Also this week, representatives from Cox Communications and AT&T met with city-parish officials to discuss the proposed parishwide high-speed broadband plan.
Eric Romero, interim director of the Department of Information Services, says he and Chief Administrative Officer William Daniel met separately with both companies. Romero characterized the discussions as positive, saying he hopes they addressed some of the companies’ concerns.
And ridership on CATS’ Red Stick Trolley has continued to dwindle, even after a marketing campaign launched earlier this spring to promote the route, and the Capital Region Planning Commission is currently analyzing its performance—the required first step to changing or eliminating routes in the bus system.
Here’s a rundown of other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- Local realtor and former mayoral candidate Steve Myers is crying foul over actions by a Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors committee to support mayoral candidate Sen. Mack “Bodi” White through the organization’s statewide political action committee.
- East Baton Rouge Parish officials plan to establish a nonprofit funding mechanism to keep the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination Project, or BRAVE, alive, as it faces an end to federal funding.
- The Salad Station, a family-owned Hammond-based restaurant chain, is opening its first location in the Capital City at 10608 Coursey Blvd. between Cedarcrest Avenue and W E Heck Court.
- Plans are moving forward more slowly than expected for a beer garden at 3808 Government St. in Mid City.
- A Downtown Development District committee continues to work on a proposed update of the ordinance regulating the placement of items such as tables and chairs on sidewalks outside downtown businesses, and those who own establishments should soon have a copy of the proposal.
- The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will get a hefty break on its rent when it moves into its new offices in the Water Campus on August 1.
- Decreased demand for the high-quality pine timber that is so abundant in south Louisiana is causing a hardship for the area’s timber farmers.
- Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar is continuing its expansion out of state with a move into the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
—Ryan Broussard
