OK, let me start with the justified caveat that Chesapeake is a relatively good community minded corporation. Their campus looks good, it's maintained better than any office site in the city and I hear great things about their employee friendly work environment.

However, lately it seems it is taking over the Western Corridor to the extent that it is slowly killing it. It seems intent to turn the whole district into a corporate facility. They have kicked out Laredo's and Wendy's. They have bought the Metro and the Abraham's building farther south. And now, while it is unverified, they may be behind the relocation of Pearl's to Belle Isle:

http://newsok.com/article/1808354/?t...=business/main

I can't say I mind the loss of Wendy's or the Abraham's building, but still, these properties were serving the public and will be converted into private facilities. Laredo's was a long established resident serving the area for years and I believe that Pearl's was the original one and brought great Cajun dining to the area with a nice deck for a rare al fresco setting. Now these restaurants, once somewhat unique and interesting places to dine, are being relegated to the strip mall and pad site atmosphere of Belle Isle.

My concern is that one of our nicest and unique areas of locally owned establishments is slowly being converted to a restricted private corporate facility. These types of businesses rely on each other for a synergistic experiences to generate traffic. Even if Chesapeake does not buy all of Western, it could erode the merchant density and adversely affect business for those that survive the property use shift. Worst case scenario is that they all are forced to scatter or move to a strip mall.

I don't mean to say that the sky is falling, but it is a trend. Chesapeake serves the area well and brings people through employment to the area (although I think much of their employees dine at their on campus facility, instead of supporting the local merchants). Mixed use areas are always good for business. But, at what point, does this balance become disturbed by Chesapeake’s aggressive acquisition of Western corridor property? When does this conversion and relocation of services begin to really hurt the attractiveness of the area as a destination for the community?

What happens if Chesapeake cashes out and is relocated? Will a once well respected member of our corporate community ultimately be responsible for nothing more than building more office vacancy in OKC and pushing more services from a neighborhood setting to a strip mall setting? I have always appreciated Chesapeake’s concern for its surrounding community, but it is beginning to look more like they are on course to cannibalize the very community it once seemed to embrace.