At it again: Chesapeake buys three office buildings near headquarters for $10.91 M by Kevan Goff-Parker
The Journal Record
7/28/2006


OKLAHOMA CITY – Chesapeake Land Co. bought three buildings from Colony Partners Inc. near Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s campus headquarters at 6100 N. Western Ave. for $10.91 million.

Two properties, 3 & 5 Corporate Plaza at 3613 NW 56th St. and 3625 NW 56th St., were purchased for $7.62 million, and North Broadway Executive Park 5 at 6601 N. Broadway Extension was bought for $3.29 million on July 19.

Tom Price, senior vice president of investor relations for Chesapeake Energy Corp., confirmed Chesapeake’s purchase and said the properties will provide for the company’s prospective campus expansion.

The three buildings were left as a six-month option-to-buy package after Colony Partners Inc., whose general partners are Ronald E. Bradshaw and his son, Jason Bradshaw, sold Chesapeake Land Co. the Regency Center at 701 NW 63rd St. for $6.7 million. The 68,826-square-foot, five-story office building sits on 3 acres and was built in 1982.

“When Jason and I started our partnership, the first transaction we did in 2002 was to purchase a four office building package from an institutional investor,” said Ronald E. Bradshaw. “The package included Broadway Executive Park 5, the 3 & 5 Corporate Plaza (two buildings) and 701 Regency.”

The Oklahoma County assessor’s Web site states that in January 2002, Colony Partners Inc. paid $12.18 million for the four buildings now owned by Chesapeake, which paid $17.61 million in all.

“We made some improvements and they stayed fully leased,” Bradshaw said. “In 2005, Chesapeake approached us and bought Regency in November 2005. They also asked for a six-month option to buy the three other buildings, and they’ve exercised their options.

Price said the Regency Center purchase ensured ownership of assets near the Chesapeake Energy Corp. campus. The two office buildings at 3 & 5 Corporate Plaza are both 52,974 square feet and were built in 1980. Five North Broadway Executive Park was built in 1973 and is 45,732 square feet.

Bradshaw said he and his son are also partners with Triangle Development Partners, and they plan to focus on downtown projects like The Triangle, a project that involves improving the mostly vacant and underdeveloped urban area east of downtown Oklahoma City. He said the goal is to turn it into a vibrant, mixed-use environment where people can “live, work and play” in an upscale, fashionable urban community.

“We’ve very happy,” Bradshaw said. “We didn’t sell to Chesapeake for a lack of interest in Oklahoma City. These sales allow us to focus all our energy and capital in the downtown developments we are doing, including The Triangle. We’re (Triangle Development Partners) also starting the brownstones, and after first of year, we’ll start another project down there that will be a mixed-use project with lofts and office condos with some retail on Second Street east of the railroad tracks between Oklahoma Avenue and back west.”

He said the loft project will offer spaces in the $140,000 to $240,000 range.

“The price range is so that we can hit the market of young people and get a broader market,” Bradshaw said. “Our goal is to invest our profits back into the Oklahoma City market and downtown.”