Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to reflect that the house is currently under contract to a buyer.
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.
Bellue bought the 4,635-square-foot home at 2601 E. Lakeshore Dr. for $626,500 in 2004, but has been trying to sell it for more than a year. It went on the market in May 2015 for $1.3 million. Earlier this year, the asking price was reduced to $950,000. The home has three bedrooms and three baths.
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. Both Jerry Del Rio, who represents the buyer, and Jeffrey Welsh, who represents Bellue, confirm the pending sale. They cannot disclose the agreed upon price, but say it is around the asking price.
The scheduled foreclosure sale is the latest in a mounting series of legal and financial woes facing Bellue. On June 3, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved a liquidation plan for Thinkstream, under which a limited amount of money will be doled out to creditors, though not to more than 500 shareholders of the company due to the extensive amount of debt.
The ruling effectively ended the year-long bankruptcy saga of what, at one time, was one of the Capital Region’s most successful tech firms. Thinkstream, founded in 1997, developed software that is utilized by hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies both in Louisiana and out of state.
But the company was forced into bankruptcy in May 2015. Court documents showed the company owed more than $22 million to creditors. Court filings also alleged missed payrolls, delinquent taxes, generous salaries for Bellue and his family, and allegations of mismanagement.
In December, a bankruptcy court judge approved a $1.4 million sale of the company to Thinkstream Acquisition LLC, or TAL. Recently rebranded as Kologik, the company will continue to be headquartered in Baton Rouge.
—Stephanie Riegel
