City Prepares for Potential Chesapeake Sales

Oklahoma City real estate market braces for Chesapeake property sales

BY STEVE LACKMEYER AND BRIANNA BAILEY | Published: March 18, 2013

Chesapeake Energy Corp. spent more than $170 million buying up office properties outside of its core campus over the past several years, but its spending spree appears to have run out of gas after company founder and CEO Aubrey McClendon announced his impending departure earlier this year.

Local real estate market observers are keeping a watchful eye on the natural gas company to see what it will do with the vast amount of office space it holds.

A recent report released by the real estate firm Grubb & Ellis/Levy Beffort, estimates Chesapeake controls about 7 percent of the city’s office market.

Although Chesapeake’s appetite for office space has been insatiable in recent years, the company has slowed the pace of its acquisitions and has even begun to unload some of its real estate assets at a loss.