Harpo Studios: Oprah Winfrey show's home to be sold
Harpo Studios in Chicago was the home of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for 21 years. Oprah Winfrey is selling Harpo Studios to a developer, but the studio will remain on the property for another two years.
Oprah Winfrey reacting after a street outside her Harpo Studios in Chicago was proclaimed 'Oprah Winfrey Way' during a ceremony in 2011. Winfrey is selling Harpo Studios in Chicago to a developer.
M. Spencer Green/AP/File
Chicago
Oprah Winfrey is selling聽Harpo聽Studios聽in Chicago to a developer, but the聽studio聽will remain on the property for another two years.
Winfrey filmed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" at the聽studio聽from 1990 to 2011, when she ended the talk show to start the Oprah Winfrey Network on cable.
"We have entered into a purchasing agreement with Sterling Bay for the four-building聽Harpo聽Studios聽campus in Chicago's West Loop,"Harpo聽told Crain's Chicago Business in a statement. "We expect the transaction to be closed in 30 days. The property will be leased back to聽Harpo聽for two years and the聽studio聽will continue to produce programming for OWN."
About 200 people work at the 3.5-acre(1.42-hectare) campus, which will sell for about $32 million, Crain's reported Sunday.聽Harpo聽said it expects to close the transaction in 30 days.
Winfrey first came to Chicago in 1984 to WLS-TV's morning talk show, "A.M. Chicago." A month later, the show was No. 1 in the market and renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 1985.
Winfrey moved to聽Harpo聽Studios聽in 1990 and is credited with transforming the once-gritty industrial area to a neighborhood filled with families and trendy restaurants.
In 2011, then-Chicago Mayor Richard Daley named the street outside聽Harpo聽Studios聽"Oprah Winfrey Way."