Chesapeake empire marches on

[john60]

I believe that is an addition to the fitness center.

[Pete]

I was poking around Rand Elliott's website and found images for two more proposed buildings on the CHK campus.

The first three are for 'Building One' shown in the campus plan below as light blue; the rest are for 'Building 13' which would be at the SE corner of 63rd and Classen and for the proposed parking structure immediately to the south:

[kevinpate]

The more I see unfold, the more I believe we're seeing the slow birth of a new university campus.

Not a bad thing. TBP bought one, so no reason AM can't build one from scratch.

[metro]

If "Building 1" is where I think it is, it has already been built. It is all glass and supposively an extended part of the fitness center.

Also, I don't know why some people are thinking this is going to be turned into a university. McClendon is a big contributor to OU. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it's not uncommon for large corporations to have a campus. Just because it's OKC's only one really, doesn't mean we should suspect it's going to be a university. Is Google, Nike, etc. going to turn into a university?

[Pete]

Building 1 is where one of the original cottages stand. Unless they've pulled at least one of them down, that is not the same location, Metro.

[metro]

Not sure Pete, if you can tell me where Classen is in relation to that map, I could tell you. They already have one glass building all the way up, just east of Classen Curve and Western.

[Martin]

^
classen is the boulevard just right of center. nw 63rd is the top edge of the map. -M

[Pete]

That's not where Building 1 will be located. This building is shown above in the center of the campus plan in blue. It's on the site of the original cottages.

The one you photographed is the addition shown on the lower part of the campus map to the labeled Fitness Center.

Building one will be five stories and roughly the size of the rest of the Georgian-styled buildings. Interesting that they plan to merge more modern elements amongst all the traditional brick... I like it, though.

[warreng88]

Not sure Pete, if you can tell me where Classen is in relation to that map, I could tell you. They already have one glass building all the way up, just east of Classen Curve and Western.

From looking at Googlemaps, it looks like Classen is the landscaped two sided street just west of Building 13. So it looks like Building 13 and the parking structure would take up 62nd to 63rd and Classen to Francis Ave.

On another note, is Chesapeake going to have it's own canal? That should be interesting.

[Pete]

Here's the larger campus plan that shows Building 1 in the middle in blue and Classen Curve in purple:

[Martin]

what's crazy to me is all the buildings that would have to be taken out just to put the athletic field on the east side of western.

-M

[Pete]

Yep, that would involve removing all the original 'cottages', about 12 of them.


Didn't they also tear down the Kensington apartments on the west side of Grand? And if so, is anything happening on that site?

[Martin]

^
hmmm... i don't know. i'm typically on classen, western or nw 63rd and don't typically have occassion to drive that stretch of grand.

will have to head that way on purpose if nobody else knows. -M

[OKCTalker]

Canal - A natural drainage culvert runs through the property near the fitness center, extending south across Classen, and is roughly the western boundary of the Juvenile Center and eastern boundary of MidFirst.

Campus - No, a "corporate campus" is a term referring to a horizontal, suburban corporate headquarters complex, unlike a high rise such as Devon is building.

Kensington - It's dirt lot now with no visible activity.

Building 13 - The site is very-deeply excavated. I have two traffic problems with what is depicted in Rand's drawing: 1) It has virtually no setback from 63rd Street, so it will visibly encroach on a busy thoroughfare, and when ice/snow has fallen, its shade will prevent natural melting (nasty traffic issues); and 2) During construction it will require additional lane closures on 63rd Street because materal/equipment access will be blocked by the parking garage to its south. Groan.

[wsucougz]

I have two traffic problems with what is depicted in Rand's drawing: 1) It has virtually no setback from 63rd Street, so it will visibly encroach on a busy thoroughfare, and when ice/snow has fallen, its shade will prevent natural melting (nasty traffic issues); and 2) During construction it will require additional lane closures on 63rd Street because materal/equipment access will be blocked by the parking garage to its south. Groan.

[Pete]

Why the heck would they tear down the Kensington -- a decent apartment building that is always pretty well occupied -- to leave just a dirt lot?

They aren't doing any other work in that area and it's very far removed from their campus...

It's moves like this that upsets me about the way CHK sometimes operates.

[OKCTalker]

Pete - They bought the 35-year-old Kensington Apartments in May 2005 in the midst of their feeding frenzy. Who knows what their plans were for it, either initially or as times changed, but it was an old property. At least it's not costing them much in taxes or maintenance right now.

Related subject - Nichols Hills Plaza. I understand that after chasing tenants out, they're now interested in renewing leases and bringing in new tenants. Questions: 1) True/False? 2) How will that affect retail leasing at Classen Curve? 3) What about the long-term prospects of this older retail property, and what has to be lots of deferred maintenance?

[Of Sound Mind]

Meanwhile... Chesapeake announces 2Q net loss of $5.7 billion.

[OKCisOK4me]

Meanwhile... Chesapeake announces 2Q net loss of $5.7 billion.

Sounds like that Kensington patch will be bare for a while!

[bwana_bob]

Meanwhile... Chesapeake announces 2Q net loss of $5.7 billion.

It would appear that Chesapeake took much of the necessary medicine for their asset devaluation ills. Down $1.50 at this hour - $1.32 of that occurred after hours. That still doesn't wipe out yesterday's gain of $1.72.

From an AP wire story this morning:

Jefferies & Co analyst Biju Perincheril on Tuesday rated the stock "Buy," saying that despite concerns over the significant first-quarter write-down and lower cash balance, Chesapeake reported a solid quarter operationally.

Perincheril noted that the company's Haynesville Shale program appears to be on track and its year-end target has not changed from February guidance.

Meanwhile Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Michael Hall lowered his 2009 and 2010 profit estimates for the company. Hall maintained a "Buy" rating on expectations of significant stock upside potential. He held to his 12-month price target of $35.

Ahead of the Bell: Chesapeake Energy slips - Yahoo! Finance

[jstanthrnme]

I was thinking about starting a thread, but Its probably more relevant here.

I was thumbing through the newest issue of the mag "Outside" at B&N, and they rated CHK as the 12th best place to work. Though I don't dispute the great benefits of a job at CHK.. I don't agree that it belongs among other employers like ClifBar and Patagonia. Its not exactly a workplace filled with outdoorsy, adventurous, eco-conscious employees, maybe except for the geologists. Its great press for CHK, but its a company that shouldn't exactly be included in an "Outside" jobs issue.

[kevinpate]

This observation is based on an admittedly small sample, but 100% of the folks I know that are employed there are very outdoorsy, adventurous, eco-conscious folk, and they strive to recruit like minded folk whenever the opportunity arises.

[securityinfo]

Anyone know what the new glass bldg. on campus is?

Cover building for AKM's underground lair. Construction and fulfillment by:

VillainSource -- formerly VillainSupply

[MikeOKC]

Did the lawsuits against McClendon even get any attention here at the forum? He recently (last couple of weeks?) caught hell for being the highest paid CEO in America, being bailed out of personal financial problems by his CHK directors of which he just gave massive pay increases (one is now paid 700 grand, for a few board meetings). It sure looks like a quid pro quo. They bought his personal art collection and wine collection. Needless to say, stockholders were furious. Aubrey is catching it from all sides for his board stacked with personal friends.

Chesapeake Energy accused of giving CEO ‘personal’ bailout | Muckety.com - See the news

As for the pay, his 112 million dollars set a new record. He's the highest paid CEO in history:

"Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon topped the AP list with a total package worth $112.5 million, even though his company’s stock price fell nearly 60 percent last year. Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha was second with $104.4 million. It was the first time since AP started analyzing CEO pay three years ago that anyone topped $100 million."
Top CEO raked in $112 million last year - U.S. business- msnbc.com

Check this out, it's full of eye openers:
Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon With New Shady Compensation Deal; I was Right in My Prediction

If he's not careful, he's going to be the next CEO doing a perp walk. He's walking the line pretty closely with some of this.

[BG918]

This unfortunately reminds me of Enron, or more recently, SemGroup in Tulsa. Look at what happened to those companies...