*

100 acre plus campus includes data center, restaurants,

fitness

centre

*

Company plans to retain headquarters, few other buildings,

broker says

*

Campus part of Chesapeake Energy founder Aubrey

McClendon's

legacy

By Shariq Khan

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Expand Energy ( EXE ), the largest

U.S. natural gas producer formerly known as Chesapeake, is

looking to sell the bulk of its storied Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,

campus, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and the

brokers involved in the planned sale.

The planned sale of the real estate marks another step in

the shrinking of the iconic Chesapeake brand, once synonymous

with the U.S. shale revolution.

The company has hired real estate brokers at Colliers

International Group ( CIGI ) and Cushman & Wakefield's ( CWK )

Commercial Oklahoma division to market over 100 acres (40.5

hectares) of the campus in the northern suburbs of Oklahoma

City.

Of the 26 buildings on the campus, Expand plans to retain

its 253,000-square-foot (23,505-sq-meter) headquarters known as

Building 15, three large buildings, four garden-style buildings,

a parking garage and about two acres of land, said Travis Mason,

director at Cushman & Wakefield's ( CWK ) Commercial Oklahoma division.

Sale considerations for the rest of the real estate, which

includes a 56,250-square-foot data center with capacity for 2.9

megawatts of critical power generation, are at an early state,

Mason noted.

The sale is likely to attract interest from real estate

developers, while other companies looking to buy individual

buildings could also be in the mix, said Walker Ryan, a

principal at Colliers.

Mason and Ryan refused to provide a valuation for the real

estate, and said it would depend on whether the properties are

sold altogether or in different transactions.

Expand did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company, which in 2020 fell into bankruptcy, last year

changed its name as part of a $7 billion merger with rival

Southwestern Energy. The merger made it the largest U.S. natural

gas producer, but its headcount has dropped drastically in

recent years following scores of layoffs.

The campus, once a status symbol for the company and

Oklahoma City, was meticulously planned by Chesapeake's late

founder Aubrey McClendon as he grew the company from 10

employees when he co-founded it in 1989 to over 12,000 in 2012.

McClendon, who died in a single-car crash in 2016, spared

little expense to build the campus, which includes a

67,000-square-foot fitness center with an Olympic-sized swimming

pool, four restaurants and a 62,000-square-foot daycare

facility.

At its peak early in the previous decade, over 8,000 of

Chesapeake employees worked at the campus, according to The

Oklahoman. As of last year, that number had shrunk to 560

employees, the newspaper reported.

Chesapeake's total workforce stood at about 1,000 employees

by the end of 2023, according to annual filings.