The owner of several popular Baton Rouge restaurants and bars has been sued by a commercial Realtor over unpaid loans, which could shuffle ownership of the establishments.
Hank Saurage, a managing partner at the Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate firm, says he loaned Chad Hughes $1.85 million in 2020 and advanced him another $100,000 last year. But, according to the lawsuit, Hughes has failed to pay him back.
Saurage is now asking a Baton Rouge judge to give him full ownership of the Bengal Tap Room, Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s and the now-closed City Bar, three downtown bars and restaurants he alleges Hughes used as collateral when he signed the contracts.
Saurage is also vying for a 50% share of Ivar’s Sports Bar and Grill, a bar and grill in the Perkins Road overpass area that Hughes co-owns with local investor Edwin Edwards, the grandson of late Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards. The lawsuit says Hughes pledged his half of the business as security, or collateral, for the seven-figure loan.
But Edwards says in court filings that his signature was forged on documents and neither he nor Hughes had authority to offer up the stock shares that Hughes used to secure the loan.
Attorneys for Edwards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hughes had yet to file a response to the lawsuit, court records showed as of Thursday. In a text message, he said the lawsuit has been settled and he was no longer involved with the restaurants named in the case.
But on Friday, Saurage said he was not aware of any settlement in the case. Hughes did not respond to requests to comment on Saurage's response.
Saurage’s nine-page petition, filed April 5, lists Hughes, Edwards and the corporate entities of their respective restaurants as defendants. The pair were part of the ownership team behind Ivar’s Sports Bar, a long-standing establishment beneath the Interstate 10 overpass on Perkins Road.
Hughes is also sole owner of the Bengal Tap Room, a downtown sports pub on Third Street, the lawsuit says. He also owns the City Bar, an 18-and-up club on the second floor of a Third Street building that Hughes bought in 2020. He also owns VARS Pizza and has stake in several other local eateries.
Last September, Hughes moved Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s, his popular Cajun-themed bar, to the ground floor of that building after property owners at its former site threatened to evict the business. The bar has been closed for the past two weekends.
According to the lawsuit, Saurage loaned Hughes $1,075,000 in cash and $775,000 to refinance an existing debt in March 2020. Hughes agreed to repay the 10-year loan in monthly $24,448 sums, Saurage alleges. If he defaulted, he agreed to give Saurage full interest in three of the restaurants he owns outright, the lawsuit states. He also pledged 500 shares — half the interest — in Ivar’s Sports Bar by providing stock certificates and written consent forms from the business’ board of directors and shareholders, the lawsuit claims.
Edwards’ signature was on both of the documents. But in court filings, Saurage acknowledged Edwards’s assertion that his signatures were forged.
In a May 14 filing, Edwards said the forged signatures effectively voided the loan agreement and nullified Saurage’s claim to a 50% stake in Ivar’s.
Saurage said he also advanced Hughes $100,000 in October, and it was supposed to be repaid when Hughes sold a retail office in the 4000 block of Government Street. The property sold Jan. 18, but Hughes failed to repay the debt, according to the suit.
Saurage’s lawyers said he sent Hughes written demands on both loans Feb. 5, but never got a payment. Plaintiff attorneys argued that Hughes’ “unfair and deceptive methods” during negotiations violated the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Consumer Protection Law.
Saurage alleges Hughes still owes at least $1.5 million on the loans with accrued interest. He is also suing for legal fees and asking a judge to enforce the default stipulations of the loan agreement by granting him Hughes’ stake in the businesses he ponied up as collateral.
Deputy Metro Editor Deanna B. Narveson contributed to this story.