A lawsuit filed in federal court last week claims Lafayette developer Glenn Stewart defaulted on a home loan earlier this year, failing to make a January installment and the final balloon payment of $1.33 million due Feb. 1. In January 2007 retired physician-turned-developer Glenn Stewart bought a home at 607 W. Bayou Parkway from Randy and Donna Moity for approximately $1.8 million. Along with a down-payment of $359,500, Stewart agreed to make monthly installments of $8,346.16 from March 1, 2007, to Jan. 31 of this year and a balloon payment of the remaining balance on Feb. 1. According to the credit sale documents filed in the Lafayette Parish Courthouse, Stewart was paying 5.7 percent interest on the note.
In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, Randy and Donna Moity claim Lafayette developer Glenn Stewart has failed to make payments on this West Bayou Parkway home he bought from them in early 2007.
The Moitys now say Stewart defaulted on the loan, and their federal lawsuit seeking payment could be the first sign of financial trouble for the developer and his extravagant Parc Lafayette shopping center, which, at best, appears to be only marginally successful. Stewart is the developer/owner of the Kaliste Saloom/Camellia Boulevard center and also owns La Marquise, the high-end women's department store that anchors it.
In their lawsuit filed May 4 against the retired radiation oncologist in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, the Moitys claim Stewart failed to make the January 1, 2012, installment and the final balloon payment of about $1.33 million due Feb. 1. Attorney Frank Neuner, who represents the couple, says Stewart now owes in excess of $1.4 million, which includes a 5 percent penalty on the overdue principal and interest as provided in the contract. The suit was filed in federal court because Stewart lives in Lafayette - though not at the W. Bayou Parkway home at the center of the legal action - and the Moitys live in Florida.
"He's been patient," Neuner says of his client, Randy Moity. "He hasn't heard anything [from Stewart] in more than 30 days."
According to Neuner, the two parties last communicated via email at the end of March. "Dr. Stewart said he was trying to sell some other property to pay off the debt," the attorney says. "But [Randy] has not heard from him since."
It's unclear who resides at the 607 W. Bayou Parkway home, or whether anyone is actually occupying it.
"We just know he's never lived there," Neuner says.
A copy of the lawsuit was mailed to Stewart Friday at his last known address, 207 Middleton Road in Lafayette, according to Neuner. That's where police found him the night of Feb. 21 when they arrested him on a second-degree battery charge in connection with an incident during Lafayette Mardi Gras.