Chesapeake empire marches on

[Pete]

Skyline on the 6th floor of Building #14 is actually three different dining concepts...

Italian Bistro:


Mongolian Grill:


Asian Bistro / Sushi Bar:

[Spartan]

Sorry I couldn't pan to Western, we were flying on the diagonal flight path coming in from Chicago and my little window had a 5 second view of that..

[kinggober]

Here are updated aerials taken on 5/22/13
Moore, Oklahoma Tornado | Google Crisis Map

[warreng88]

I am curious what CHK will finish out and what they will do with the excess land. There are two full city block between the retention pond and the data center and another full block between the pond and parking garage #5.

[PhiAlpha]

I am curious what CHK will finish out and what they will do with the excess land. There are two full city block between the retention pond and the data center and another full block between the pond and parking garage #5.

They are planning to finish out everything that's currently coming out of the ground. I imagine they'll keep the empty lots for future expansion if necessary, no reason to sell them. They are tucked between the back edge of CHK and the railroad tracks so its not exactly prime real estate. The only way I seem them selling is if mid first was interested in expanding.

[Pete]

MidFirst owns the big chunk of land directly north of it's HQ. Plenty of room to build if need be.

And even if CHK doesn't want to sell them the Grand Park buildings (which still may happen) there are several other small properties directly west of MidFirst (old Home Builders, a couple of others) that are not really being used by Chesapeake.

There seems to be plenty of room for both these companies to expand in this general area.

[Pete]

Took all these yesterday.

Now that a lot of the properties east of Classen (all the large-scale projects) are finishing up, the whole campus is really starting to take shape. I have to say, it's very, very impressive. And as I walked around taking it all in, I looked over at the Harvey Parkway building where Aubrey McClendon now offices -- and looks out upon the CHK campus -- and couldn't help but feel sympathy for him not being able to see this all the way through. Tons and tons of attention to detail and I know AKM had a lot of involvement in the decisions.

This is Building #1 (CHK naming convention) that is wrapping up and will be the last piece of the central campus.





Cookout / event spot on the north end of the track:





Building #13; houses one of the newer restaurants:





"Profitable and Efficient Growth".


Building #14


Building #14 with Skyline Restaurant jutting out at the top.


Building #14 -- better view of top-level Skyline Restaurant. Note the roof-top patio.


Parking Garage #3. Features really slick translucent glass all around.


Parking Grage #5 and view from Skyline Restaurant.


Child Development center.


Looking West.


Building #15.


What looks like a fountain in a new roundabout on Shartel.


RTC Lab looking down Shartel.


Community Garden with Data Center in background. That's Aubrey McClendon's new office space in the gray building (Harvey Parkway).


Looking east.


Child Development Center.


Building #15 and new roundabout on Classen.

[TechArch]

Pete - thanks for taking pictures of all the new buildings. I drive by the buildings all the time, but never get to enjoy them completely.

[Pete]

BTW, all the buildings and structures shown are occupied except for:

Building #15
Garage #5
RTC Lab
Data Center


As they are all getting close -- and #15 will be the largest office structure on their campus -- I would expect CHK to consolidate a lot of employees that are now housed in the various off-campus office buildings and then sell most of them. Atrium Towers and the property immediately west is very likely to be shed as well as some others.

And of course, they continue to sell assets and have at least minor layoffs so they may not even need the two Grand Park buildings when everything is complete and the dust settled. In that case, they may very well sell them to MidFirst / Midland, as Grand Park 1 & 2 sit right between their two existing buildings.

[Pete]

As I've long suspected, looks like MidFirst / Midland Mortgage will be acquiring properties from Chesapeake to consolidate their employees and for future growth.

Most likely, One and Two Grand Park will be sold to them, along with some smaller properties that sit between the Mid* holdings.

This makes the most sense for everyone involved, but also pretty much ends the rumors about Mid* moving downtown.


Still expect Chesapeake to spin off the Atrium Towers (NW Expressway & 63rd) and most of their other out-lying properties, including Nichols Hills Plaza and Classen Curve.

[kinggober]

Pete, is this just a rumor or is there some factual evidence this will happen? I work in one of the buildings mentioned so I'm interested to know how likely this is.

[Pete]

Pete, is this just a rumor or is there some factual evidence this will happen? I work in one of the buildings mentioned so I'm interested to know how likely this is.

I heard this from a very good source at MidFirst who has always been spot-on with information.


Remember, Chesapeake is laying people off in what appears to be significant numbers just as they are about to complete four very large buildings on their campus: Building #1, Building #15, the RTC Lab and the Data Center. All of those should be open by the end of the year or soon thereafter. They just opened Building #14, which is by far the largest building on their campus.

They have also pledged to sell more assets over the next year.

[OKCTalker]

What has become a trend of surplus real estate sales is welcome news after so many years of bewildering acquisitions, construction and leasing activity.

[Pete]

Just read that a significant percentage of the CHK employees in Atrium Tower South have been laid off.


I believe the dominoes will soon begin to fall in terms of selling off a lot of their off-campus properties.

The just opened Building #14 -- their largest to date -- and Building #15 will be larger still and should be complete by the end of the year. As will Building #1, the Data Center and Central Plant and another huge parking structure, after just opening another bigee just last month.

So, fewer employees and lots more campus office space means they certainly will consolidate back to the main campus, sell off Atrium Towers and probably the two Grand Park buildings that sit between the MidFirst and Midland Mortgage HQ's.

From there, you can bet they will get serious about that I-44/Grand/Western triangle which is largely vacant, NH Plaza, Classen Curve and the hundreds of smaller properties located near their campus.

I bet we'll see a bunch of larger deals announced in the very near future.

[OKVision4U]

Just read that a significant percentage of the CHK employees in Atrium Tower South have been laid off.


I believe the dominoes will soon begin to fall in terms of selling off a lot of their off-campus properties.

The just opened Building #14 -- their largest to date -- and Building #15 will be larger still and should be complete by the end of the year. As will Building #1, the Data Center and Central Plant and another huge parking structure, after just opening another bigee just last month.

So, fewer employees and lots more campus office space means they certainly will consolidate back to the main campus, sell off Atrium Towers and probably the two Grand Park buildings that sit between the MidFirst and Midland Mortgage HQ's.

From there, you can bet they will get serious about that I-44/Grand/Western triangle which is largely vacant, NH Plaza, Classen Curve and the hundreds of smaller properties located near their campus.

I bet we'll see a bunch of larger deals announced in the very near future.

This new leadership is just "trimming the fat" for the new Wall Stree Boys. They want a liener business for the coming business cycles. Don't get TOO concerned about what they are doing. The climate in the O&G community is one of growth now, and for the next 10 years. The other people that get CHK laid off, will walk across the street and help Aubrey M. w/ his new company AEP.

[zookeeper]

This new leadership is just "trimming the fat" for the new Wall Stree Boys. They want a liener business for the coming business cycles. Don't get TOO concerned about what they are doing. The climate in the O&G community is one of growth now, and for the next 10 years. The other people that get CHK laid off, will walk across the street and help Aubrey M. w/ his new company AEP.

Right. Run to the guy who took his company public, ran it irresponsibly, which ends up with their jobs being lost, due to his greed and hubris. Make no mistake, the person to blame for the layoffs is Aubrey McClendon. If I was a laid-off Chesapeake worker, I'd stay as far away from that man as possible.

[Plutonic Panda]

Right. Run to the guy who took his company public, ran it irresponsibly, which ends up with their jobs being lost, due to his greed and hubris. Make no mistake, the person to blame for the layoffs is Aubrey McClendon. If I was a laid-off Chesapeake worker, I'd stay as far away from that man as possible.

Aubrey McClendon was a great man who did great things and tried to do even better than anyone would've thought as trying to invest in his community. He cared about building things truly world class and using the best quality materials he could.

The ol' boys down on Wall Street didn't like that their dollars were going to community projects they didn't even know about nor live in. I don't blame them either. I respect Aubrey and his will to things right and hopefully he has learned to be more in moderation this time around with his new company.

[Teo9969]

Right. Run to the guy who took his company public, ran it irresponsibly, which ends up with their jobs being lost, due to his greed and hubris. Make no mistake, the person to blame for the layoffs is Aubrey McClendon. If I was a laid-off Chesapeake worker, I'd stay as far away from that man as possible.

Risk/Reward ... I assume there are plenty of people who have just been laid off who were smart enough to position themselves very well and who have the flexibility to go work with a risky guy like McClendon and potentially make bank. If it doesn't work out, they'll still be fine. If it does...they'll have made a lot of money.

[zookeeper]

I'm not going to fight the Aubrey McClendon PR machine being run a floor away from his office at Harvey Parkway. It's not worth my blood pressure.

[OKVision4U]

Right. Run to the guy who took his company public, ran it irresponsibly, which ends up with their jobs being lost, due to his greed and hubris. Make no mistake, the person to blame for the layoffs is Aubrey McClendon. If I was a laid-off Chesapeake worker, I'd stay as far away from that man as possible.

Here's some insight for you... This man is so civic minded that he HIRED MORE PEOPLE THAN HE NEEDED TO. He did not run it in the ground, he simple built an industry monster. Do you know how many 100's of Million he has invested into OKC ??? The people? ...I'm not even speaking of the Thunder.

He has pioneered so much in the Gas community. This is not a day to blame Aubrey M. at all. He helped make it all possible for others ( CHK ; SandRidge ; Devon )...they all have benefited from each other. Aubrey M. will build another empire, and hire more people than he needs too and invest more money into the OKC than he needs to as well.

...Wall street wanted better stock prices. One of the main tools they use to achieve this, is the layoff. Employee reductions. Getting lien will increase the stock price for Wall Street. Blame the new Executive Team for this NEW direction. Not Aubrey.

[Of Sound Mind]

...Wall street wanted better stock prices. One of the main tools they use to achieve this, is the layoff. Employee reductions. Getting lien will increase the stock price for Wall Street. Blame the new Executive Team for this NEW direction. Not Aubrey.

Aubrey took his company public. When it becomes public, he then has to answer to the shareholders. I appreciate Aubrey's generosity, but he didn't own the company; he was but a shareholder (a large one, admittedly), but one of thousands of shareholders who collectively owned more of the company than he did. Shareholders typically do not invest in companies out of charity; they want to make money. If they didn't, they wouldn't last long as investors. Once you go public, you have a fiduciary responsibility to those who own the company. Perhaps with his new company, he'll keep it private... THEN he can do whatever he pleases, including being as generous as he wants to be to his employees and his community.

[PhiAlpha]

I'm not going to fight the Aubrey McClendon PR machine being run a floor away from his office at Harvey Parkway. It's not worth my blood pressure.

Geez did Aubrey personally shove a log up your a** or something? If it weren't for Aubrey, the people there wouldn't have been employed in the first place. Which is worse, getting paid well for years, gaining valuable experience, and then losing your job or not ever having a job? Aubrey's big mistake was betting to much on high gas prices and losing. I guarantee he won't make that mistake again nor will he take his new company public. I know several people over at AEP that dropped what they were doing or were former employees a CHK that went to work for him. The majority of people at CHK love the guy, I guarantee 95% of the people laid off would jump at the opportunity to go work for him.

[Teo9969]

Aubrey took his company public. When it becomes public, he then has to answer to the shareholders. I appreciate Aubrey's generosity, but he didn't own the company; he was but a shareholder (a large one, admittedly), but one of thousands of shareholders who collectively owned more of the company than he did. Shareholders typically do not invest in companies out of charity; they want to make money. If they didn't, they wouldn't last long as investors. Once you go public, you have a fiduciary responsibility to those who own the company. Perhaps with his new company, he'll keep it private... THEN he can do whatever he pleases, including being as generous as he wants to be to his employees and his community.

He can do whatever he pleases as long as he owns, realistically, about 35% of the company, unless he's going to do something real stupid, then he needs to own like 48%.

His biggest mistake @CHK was losing nearly all of his personal investment in the company.

[PhiAlpha]

Aubrey took his company public. When it becomes public, he then has to answer to the shareholders. I appreciate Aubrey's generosity, but he didn't own the company; he was but a shareholder (a large one, admittedly), but one of thousands of shareholders who collectively owned more of the company than he did. Shareholders typically do not invest in companies out of charity; they want to make money. If they didn't, they wouldn't last long as investors. Once you go public, you have a fiduciary responsibility to those who own the company. Perhaps with his new company, he'll keep it private... THEN he can do whatever he pleases, including being as generous as he wants to be to his employees and his community.

The shareholder revolt had much, much more to do with his philosophy on running company operations than anything to do with charity or other extracurriculars. Those were just blips on the radar compared to what they were overpaying for acreage they were continually acquiring and poor drilling practices. Aubrey wanted to own every acre in every play in the lower 48 but didn't put near enough emphasis on developing that acreage in the process and funding the company on it's own cash flow. That and tanking natural gas prices killed him.He also did own a large portion of the company until the margin call in 2009...again, he bet way too much on high natural gas prices.

[UnFrSaKn]

Chesapeake lays off 640 employees in OKC | News OK