Chesapeake empire marches on

[daddio]

Johnny and Connie Berlein.....Gary Berlin's cousins.

[OKCTalker]

Pete -
Do you know if Chesapeake or one of their LLCs owns the property just north of the correctional facility near Robinson and Grand? They did a lot of dirt work at this location and put in a retention basin in the middle.

Are you referring to the massive circular concrete basin on 58th Street immediately east of Lee? It's very large, very odd, and looks like something a Bond villain would create. I got out of there before security grabbed me and threw me into a concrete mixer.

[warreng88]

Are you referring to the massive circular concrete basin on 58th Street immediately east of Lee? It's very large, very odd, and looks like something a Bond villain would create. I got out of there before security grabbed me and threw me into a concrete mixer.

That will be a retention pond for all the green space CHK has. A new building to house HR is supposed to be built just to the north of that.

[Pete]

Are you referring to the massive circular concrete basin on 58th Street immediately east of Lee? It's very large, very odd, and looks like something a Bond villain would create. I got out of there before security grabbed me and threw me into a concrete mixer.

The correctional facility is on the east side of the RR tracks; all of CHK's property is to the west.

And yes, that circular area will be a huge pond and in addition to the office building, they just had adjacent land rezoned for a boat house of some sort.

[securityinfo]

Does any one know if the recent closing with Chesapeake's newest shell corporation (EAST CLASSEN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT LLC) and the Maupin family is new business or just old business that is just now closing? The EAST CLASSEN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT LLC/Berlin deal north of 63rd was an old contract

I can say that chk had been ignoring Maupin for years, but I guess that they are still serious about expansion. Good for him.

[OKCTalker]

I suppose that the credit/blame goes to Chesapeake, but traffic controls are being installed on 63rd at Shartel, and what may be a center, left turn lane between Shartel & Olie. I believe that now makes four stop lights on 63rd between Western & Broadway (Classen, Shartel, Harvey & Robinson). Expect congestion to increase on 63rd, and more traffic to be pushed onto Wilshire and I-44.

[bchris02]

I suppose that the credit/blame goes to Chesapeake, but traffic controls are being installed on 63rd at Shartel, and what may be a center, left turn lane between Shartel & Olie. I believe that now makes four stop lights on 63rd between Western & Broadway (Classen, Shartel, Harvey & Robinson). Expect congestion to increase on 63rd, and more traffic to be pushed onto Wilshire and I-44.

I wish they would time the lights along 63rd better. I have to drive it every day and its very difficult to not get stopped at every single light between Hefner Pkwy and Broadway.

[Pete]

As has been noted elsewhere, since the changes on the Chesapeake board, it seems no new construction has started at all.

They still have a bunch of stuff underway but there were several things in the pipeline that seem to have stalled and may have been completely stopped: the project at NW 50th & Western, the expansion of Classen Curve, the Nichols Hills Market and anything further on their corporate campus. Also, the McClendon-owned Pops in Bricktown has gone nowhere since the announcement several months ago.

They have five large buildings nearing completion on their campus and it will be very interesting to see if they start consolidating employees from the Caliber Center, Atrium Towers, etc.

[bombermwc]

That's what happens when the new board says, "Hey naughty Aubrey. Why dont you stop doing all this other CRAP with the company and do some actual company work for a change".

[HangryHippo]

Was McClendon using Chesapeake's money (and only Chesapeake's) to do all of this as extensions of Chesapeake's natural gas business or was his personal wealth tied up in all of this too? I've read the articles and such, but I don't understand how a billionaire can't get the POPS in Bricktown built...?

[Pete]

Steve Lackmeyer said in another thread that Pops in Bricktown is going forward, just slowly.


I'm sure the issue from the board perspective is focus and time, not just money spent.

But also, Chesapeake employs several people to administer to McClendon's personal dealings. That may be something that has changed.

[HangryHippo]

Steve Lackmeyer said in another thread that Pops in Bricktown is going forward, just slowly.


I'm sure the issue from the board perspective is focus and time, not just money spent.

But also, Chesapeake employs several people to administer to McClendon's personal dealings. That may be something that has changed.

Thanks for the response Pete. I just don't know that I have any sort of grasp on how intertwined Aubrey's personal dealings were with those of Chesapeake and why the board would be so interested in stopping his extracurriculars, other than to refocus his time to just the company.

[warreng88]

The new garage furthest to the north (3?) is getting some sort of modern sheeting on the north side of the garage.

[ChargerAg]

It looks like Building 14 is getting ready to roll into it's 27th months of construction. Does anybody know when this thing is supposed to open? I have never seen any kind of construction as slow as this building has taken.

[Pete]

All the Chesapeake buildings have taken 2 to 2.5 years to build; that's about how long it took for the entire Devon complex to be open for business.

Building 14 looks like it's getting close. I bet it's open in the next couple of months.

The rest (Building 1, Building 15, RTC Lab, Data Center and Garages 3 & 5) should all be complete by the end of 2013 and I think that will be the end of campus construction for a while.

[warreng88]

All the Chesapeake buildings have taken 2 to 2.5 years to build; that's about how long it took for the entire Devon complex to be open for business.

Building 14 looks like it's getting close. I bet it's open in the next couple of months.

The rest (Building 1, Building 15, RTC Lab, Data Center and Garages 3 & 5) should all be complete by the end of 2013 and I think that will be the end of campus construction for a while.

Building 14 should be moved in by January and building 15by June.

[Pete]

As I predicted when I saw this building in October, looks like Glenbrook Centre West will soon be demolished.

Last July, I went into this building and there were still a bunch of tenants. In October, I noticed a virtually empty parking lot and when I went inside it looked like everyone had moved out. I was surprised the building was unlocked at that time.

Chesapeake paid $7.8 million for this property in 2005, and at that time it was a appraised for $1.9 million. It sits on 3.7 acres. Some may remember the old Brigadoon Restaurant was on the ground floor during the 70's and 80's.

Given that the new CHK board seems to have put the brakes on spending, I imagine this will sit as yet another grassy lot, just like the former Glenbrook Centre East, the Kensington Apartments, Kings Court Condos and several other parcels owned by Chesapeake in the area.

[Pete]

Here is a recent aerial compared to about ten years ago:

[Spartan]

Not sure if it's an improvement or not

[OKCTalker]

Isn't there a First Fidelity drive-through right on the corner? Does Chesapeake own that, or the bank?

[Rover]

It this where they were thinking of putting the boutique hotel?

[progressiveboy]

As I predicted when I saw this building in October, looks like Glenbrook Centre West will soon be demolished.

Last July, I went into this building and there were still a bunch of tenants. In October, I noticed a virtually empty parking lot and when I went inside it looked like everyone had moved out. I was surprised the building was unlocked at that time.

Chesapeake paid $7.8 million for this property in 2005, and at that time it was a appraised for $1.9 million. It sits on 3.7 acres. Some may remember the old Brigadoon Restaurant was on the ground floor during the 70's and 80's.

Given that the new CHK board seems to have put the brakes on spending, I imagine this will sit as yet another grassy lot, just like the former Glenbrook Centre East, the Kensington Apartments, Kings Court Condos and several other parcels owned by Chesapeake in the area.

Hopefully, this parcel of land gets developed sooner than later! The building that is being demolished is very 1970's prefabbed, concrete. Not very visually appealing. This area of town needs to have more modern visually appealing buildings.

[Plutonic Panda]

So what I'm worrying about is Chesapeake ever going to make a comeback? It seems like they were doing great things for this city and everything went downhill in a matter of months. I know they had problems with a scandal with Aubrey and a hedge fund or something. But are they ever going to continue new ambitious construction or did the board pretty much kill that?

[Pete]

Chesapeake is in the middle of liquidating billions in assets just to fund their cash flow.

The new board of directors has clearly turned off the spending tap, although there are still a bunch of campus projects under construction.

Since the change in the board, there has been no new construction started of any type, and I doubt that will change in the near future.

[Plutonic Panda]

So what caused all of this? Was it due to all of the construction spending? I just can't imagine all their construction costing so much that it would cause a major downturn to the company. Sorry if it was stated elsewhere.