McClendon calls Shell buy last of puzzle

Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s real estate shell game — buying and selling property for its growing campus while keeping its exact plans hidden — went literal with its purchase of a Shell service station for a stunning $3 million.

A service station. About 2,000 square feet. Built in 1969. On less than one-third acre.

For $3 million. The county estimates its value at about $200,000.

Chesapeake bought the property from a family trust comprised of children and grandchildren of grocer Jack W. Owens, who died in 1995. Owens planned but never built a third supermarket on the spot in the 1940s when Nichols Hills was in its early years.

Owens bought land in the area, "out in the country” then, to get in front of where Oklahoma City was growing, said Howard Berry III, a grandson. By 2007, all that remained was "just that one little postage stamp-size property,” which Chesapeake started trying to buy several years ago, he said.

"There was some negotiation that went on,” said Berry, a trial attorney.

Chesapeake's habit of paying record-breaking prices for property it wants around its headquarters at Classen Boulevard and Western Avenue is renowned. The energy giant's penchant for buying property to trade for other property, likewise, is well known.

What isn't known are the plans for the Shell at 6405 N Western Ave., not far from company's headquarters. It's almost surrounded by previous Chesapeake acquisitions.

Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake chairman and chief executive officer, wouldn't say.

"This was the last piece to the Nichols Hills puzzle,” he said Thursday evening. Asked to elaborate, he said, "I am sorry. It's just not time yet. Too many moving pieces still.”

Next door to the Shell is Nichols Hills Plaza, which Chesapeake bought for a then-record $27.5 million two years ago. Chesapeake also owns other commercial property nearby.

Also close is Nichols Hills City Hall, 6407 Avondale, which Chesapeake wants to get in a swap for the Christian Science Church at 1203 Sherwood Lane, which the company bought for $10 million in June. Nichols Hills officials are considering the offer.

Chesapeake probably didn't buy the full-service station, a rarity, to continue operating as a service station — although McClendon's personal investment in POPS, a soda pop-theme diner and gasoline station on old Route 66 in Arcadia, might make some wonder — and Chesapeake company trucks are seen fueling at the Shell.

The Shell is still open, but for how long isn't clear. Operator Don Bolen has a lease, but he could not be reached for comment Thursday.

As a service station, the property probably would fetch $350,000 to $400,000, said Kenneth Spencer of Spencer Real Estate, which brokers gasoline stations, convenience stores and truck stops across the state.

To compare, Spencer said he has listings for larger stations in Chickasha, Anadarko and Verden priced at $650,000. The Valero at Second Street and Kelly Avenue in Edmond, he said, is for sale for $1.1 million.

For the Shell, to service a loan to buy it for $3 million would take payments of about $30,000 a month, he said. Presumably, however, Chesapeake, itself worth more than $20 billion, paid cash.

Chesapeake is "definitely buying locations to add to its campus,” Spencer said.

The Shell service station is on a prime spot, indeed. Jack Owens thought so when he bought it decades ago, his grandson said.

The Harvard-educated Owens, who operated Jack Owens Super Markets at what is now NW 12 and Harvey and NW 30 and Hudson, was an innovative grocer who thought ahead, Berry said. He entered the family grocer business in 1930 after college and later owned Club House Market, a meat wholesaler.

Berry said his grandfather knew the land was a good investment because of the direction Oklahoma City was growing in the 1940s. But he probably never dreamed that one-third acre would bring millions.

"He just kept that one little old piece. When he died, it went into a trust for the family,” Berry said. "It all had to