Chesapeake empire marches on

[warreng88]

It looks they are putting steel framing for the roof above the building to keep the elements out.

[Pete]

All fair statements. (Although I'm not sure that leasing primarily to local retailers should have made it so much easier as you suggest; even though the economy has been great in Oklahoma City, I suspect getting financing for retail stores has still been very difficult.)

Another note: Many recent retail developments in other cities have found themselves leasing to far more restaurants than they had planned, even in cities with similarly strong economies (e.g. Houston and Dallas).

Keep in mind almost all of these retailers were already in business elsewhere and that CHK for the most part paid for their build out. Not sure much financing was needed.

Also, while the national economy has recovered, that hasn't seemed to help the retail leasing at CC.


I just don't think it works very well for retail tenants, independent of national or local economy issues.

[BoulderSooner]

looks like CHK was a few less buildings the former exogex building and the tower next door are now owed by Access Midstream partners the new name for the former chk subsidiary http://newsok.com/former-chesapeake-...rticle/3695263

[Pete]

The assessor's site shows those buildings are still owned by Chesapeake Land Co.

If they were sold, it will be very interesting to see what they paid for them in relation to what CHK had paid just a year ago.

[warreng88]

When working out on the central park, noticed glass was going in on the south side of building one.

[luke911]

CHK is putting up two new signs today on the Atrium Towers. In the background you can also see the new parking lot being poured.

[catch22]

They are seriously repouring a parking lot? The amount of money they spend is crazy....

[Pete]

They completely tore out a relatively new asphalt lot and put down concrete. They've been working on this for months.

They own the building immediately west too and since this aerial have completely replaced the asphalt with concrete there as well:

[onthestrip]

Aubrey probably owns the concrete company...

It didnt even seem like a day after they acquired the Caliber Center that they had the turf tore up and were redoing the irragation system and installed new sod. Obviously things havent changed that much over there.

[luke911]

I work in the north tower and have been taking some pictures as they've been working. Here is an album of some of the pics.

http://goo.gl/BIeif

[luke911]

Actually they only replaced the parking lots in front of and behind that west building with concrete. The parking lot between the Atrium towers and that building west is still asphalt. According to the plans they've sent us, that will be replaced when they merge it with the parking lot directly west of the atrium towers. I've attached the map they sent us back in July on their plans for the parking lots and how they'll be merged.

Atrium Parking Lot 2012.pdf

[OKCTalker]

From today's (9/24/2012) Journal Record:

"Although Chesapeake Energy Corp. is selling off billions of dollars in assets this year, the company continues to buy up real estate around its ever-expanding campus in northwest Oklahoma City.Over the past year, a shell company called Property Development Capital LLC has bought land, a small office building and a few houses around Chesapeake’s campus."

Pete - is this activity that you've "reported on" here, or new acquisitions?

[Pete]

From today's (9/24/2012) Journal Record:

"Although Chesapeake Energy Corp. is selling off billions of dollars in assets this year, the company continues to buy up real estate around its ever-expanding campus in northwest Oklahoma City.Over the past year, a shell company called Property Development Capital LLC has bought land, a small office building and a few houses around Chesapeake’s campus."

Pete - is this activity that you've "reported on" here, or new acquisitions?

I've been tracking this particular LLC since it was formed a few years ago. Recently, they stopped using Chesapeake Land LLC's and started using this one (without Chesapeake in the name), as they continued to acquire properties north of 63rd Street, now with quite of few properties east of the RR tracks. There is another LLC they've used to acquire property near 50th & Penn as I've previously noted.

I mentioned some of these buys in the the CHK Business Practices threads, as they just last month spent millions on vacant industrial land north of 63rd.

[metro]

Anyone know if they acquired the motel on the SW corner of 63rd and Broadway Ext. just south of the intersection? It always was cheap looking but it looks like they are either redoing it or gutting it out before demo.

[Pete]

Anyone Ono if they acquired the motel on the SW corner of 63rd and Broadway Ext. just south of the intersection? It always was cheap looking but it looks like they are either redoing it or gutting it out before demo.

No, that's just a major remodel by the current owners.

[Pete]

Here's the full article from the Journal Record.

I knew Property Development Capital LLC was a Chesapeake entity... Or I should say I was pretty darn sure so I had been tracking/logging their purchases in a separate worksheet in my massive Chesapeake Excel spreadsheet.

It was pretty obvious by their buying pattern, the amounts paid and the fact they were using the same attorney as the registrant as they do for all their CHK LLC's. But until they started using the official Chesapeake PO Box for the address on these properties, I couldn't be 100% sure.

The numbers I had previously provided do not include Property Development Capital LLC. The total numbers just for this LLC are: 86 properties; 35.2 acres; just under $8 million paid; total assessed value of under $2.2 million.



*****************


Chesapeake land grab continues
By Brianna Bailey
Oklahoma City reporter. Contact: 405-278-2847, brianna.bailey@journalrecord.com, @briannabailey80.
Posted: 08:56 PM Friday, September 21, 2012


OKLAHOMA CITY – Although Chesapeake Energy Corp. is selling off billions of dollars in assets this year, the company continues to buy up real estate around its ever-expanding campus in northwest Oklahoma City.

Over the past year, a shell company called Property Development Capital LLC has bought land, a small office building and a few houses around Chesapeake’s campus. The company is registered to Joe Lewallen, an attorney with the Oklahoma City-based Commercial Law Firm, which Chesapeake contracts with for legal services.

At first, Property Development listed its address in property records as that of local real estate firm Price Edwards &Co.’s downtown office, but in August, it began using the same post office box Chesapeake uses for its main mailing address.

Over the past decade, Chesapeake and its affiliated companies have spent at least $359 million acquiring real estate in Oklahoma County, not including Property Development purchases.

Property Development has spent about $8 million since September 2011 to buy a little more than 35 acres of land in northwest Oklahoma City, property records show. Most of the properties it has purchased are vacant land zoned for industrial use just northwest of Chesapeake’s main campus at NW 63rd Street and N. Western Avenue. The land acquisitions are clustered around the BNSF Railway line between W. Wilshire Boulevard and NW 63th Street.

Jim Gipson, a spokesman for Chesapeake, declined to comment on the purchases or what the company’s plans might be for the properties. Ford Price, managing partner for Price Edwards, which negotiated some of the acquisitions for Property Development, also declined to comment.

In August, Property Development purchased two homes on NW 64th Street owned by James and Rena King for $1.19 million, according to property records. The homes include a dilapidated, two-story farmhouse built in 1938, according to property records, as well as a 1,000-square-foot fieldstone ranch house next door. The farmhouse has peeling paint and a sagging porch. The homes are just across the street from a five-story office building owned by Chesapeake at NW 63rd and N. Shartel.

Ben King, who identified himself as James King’s son, declined to talk about the recent sale on behalf of the family, except to confirm that the property was sold to Chesapeake. He said he did not know what the company’s plans were for the houses.

“They don’t tell us anything,” he said. “They just buy up the land.”

In March, Property Development purchased a 5,300-square-foot office building at 5617 N. Classen Boulevard from the personal injury law firm Dellumo and Crow for $1.2 million. Attorney Daniel Delluomo did not respond to numerous requests for comment. The law office continues to operate out of the building.

Property Development purchased a run-down, 1,108-square-foot white stucco house at 829 NW 68th St. The house is part of a portfolio of land Property Development bought for $1.89 million from the limited liability company LS II Land Company in April.

The house, which appears to be empty, is not far from an unfinished wine cellar that Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon halted construction on in 2008. McClendon purchased and cleared a row of houses on NW 68th Street for the project, which appears to be a private endeavor of the CEO and unaffiliated with Chesapeake. Unused stacks of steel rebar and I-beams for the wine cellar project sit behind a fence at the corner of NW 68th Street and N. Classen Boulevard.

Longtime NW 68th Street resident Tina Whitworth lives directly across the street from McClendon’s unfinished wine cellar and a few doors down from the house owned by Property Development.

Whitworth said she heard Chesapeake has been trying to buy houses on her street, but has yet to be approached by the company.
“I’ve heard they have been knocking on doors around here again,” she said.

Area residents say they know Chesapeake has purchased a house in the neighborhood when the landscaping company Total Environment begins cutting the grass on a regular basis. The same landscaping company also maintains the immaculate grounds of Chesapeake’s main corporate campus.

Lewis Matula, who has lived on NW 68th Street for 12 years, said when McClendon started buying homes on the street for the wine cellar six or seven years ago, it caused some to buy houses in the neighborhood and sit on the properties in hopes of turning a profit.

“It sparked a lot of interest; people thought they were going to get rich,” Matula said.

Matula said he has not been approached by Chesapeake, but believes that it’s only a matter of time.

“I feel it’s inevitable that they will buy my home, but I don’t want to go anywhere,” he said.

[bombermwc]

OK so does anyone else get tired of seeing CHK taking buildings. They're so spread out all over creation, it's just stupid at this point. Any hope of the offices being able to coordinate well is long since gone. They've sunk so much money into this crap that there's also no way they could ever now afford to build a single building. Not to mention how much empty space they would leave around town if they did leave.

Rewind 15 years to when they were building those stupid little 3 story cottage style buildings and insert a swift kick in the pants to Aubrey.

[Pete]

I think they will eventually consolidate their employees but to their campus then lease out or sell most those satellite buildings.

They have two big buildings opening soon, three others under construction and a bunch more planned that will easily fit on their contiguous land south of 63rd, east of Western, west of the RR tracks and north of I-44.

They also are planning to sell even more of their energy assets next year, so they will be contracting in the near future, not growing.

[HangryHippo]

Why buy all the buildings in the first place? Are they really that cramped for space for employees right now?

[Pete]

Yes, they had no place to put employees and were leasing space in most the buildings they bought.

Of course, it still begs the question: Why buy a building instead of just leasing? Especially since they have been paying way over the mark, they pouring in millions in improvements.

I hope they continue growing enough they'll continue to fill the space they are in plus all their new buildings on campus. As of the first of the year, they had 5,000 employees in OKC alone but it's hard to tell if that number is falling, rising or merely stabilizing.

Because they get a job incentive grant from the City, they have to report their employee numbers every year and that next report should be very telling.

[jn1780]

I think they will eventually consolidate their employees but to their campus then lease out or sell most those satellite buildings.

They have two big buildings opening soon, three others under construction and a bunch more planned that will easily fit on their contiguous land south of 63rd, east of Western, west of the RR tracks and north of I-44.

They also are planning to sell even more of their energy assets next year, so they will be contracting in the near future, not growing.

I wonder about the planned buildings for the future. I think they will hold off on breaking ground on future buildings.

[Pete]

I wonder about the planned buildings for the future. I think they will hold off on breaking ground on future buildings.

You would think so but they continue to buy land and spend a ton of money on existing structures.

They are also in the process of pumping lots of money into NH Plaza, financing a big grocery operation and getting ready to start construction on that convenience / gas / retail development at 50th & Western.


They don't seem to have slowed down at all.

[ChargerAg]

You would think so but they continue to buy land and spend a ton of money on existing structures.

They are also in the process of pumping lots of money into NH Plaza, financing a big grocery operation and getting ready to start construction on that convenience / gas / retail development at 50th & Western.


They don't seem to have slowed down at all.

What new construction have they started since the begining of the year? The last thing they started on campus was PG3.

[Pete]

What new construction have they started since the begining of the year? The last thing they started on campus was PG3.

I think you mean Parking Garage #5, started in March 2012 at a cost for $35 million.

They've also started work on a structure just north of the main playfield, the creek and extensive landscaping on the north end near 63rd, added improvements to their community garden and are doing an absolutely massive amount of work on the east side of their campus for a huge retention pond and associated dirt work. This is in addition to PG #3, Buildings #1, 14, 15, the RTC building, the Data Center and Central Plant, all of which are still under heavy construction.

They have also pumped millions into the Central Park buildings, Harvey Parkway, the Atrium Towers and several other off-campus buildings in 2012. BTW, despite selling the business contained within, CHK has retained ownership of the Central Park buildings.

In addition to all of this, they will also be constructing an addition to Classen Curve. Not sure if this has started yet but it will soon.

[Plutonic Panda]

Chesapeake amends loan agreement | NewsOK.com