Oprah Winfrey is selling her production company, Harpo Studios, to a Chicago developer after putting it up for sale months ago. As part of the agreement, the studio will remain on the property for two more years and continue producing content for the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Harpo Studios was where Winfrey taped The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1990 to 2011 before going on to develop her own cable network in Los Angeles.
“We have entered into a purchasing agreement with Sterling Bay for the four-building Harpo Studios campus in Chicago’s West Loop,” a Harpo spokesperson said in a statement. “We expect the transaction to be closed in 30 days. The property will be leased back to Harpo for two years and the studio will continue to produce programming for OWN.”
The studio’s campus covers about 3.5 acres and currently employs over 200 people. It will allegedly sell for about $32 million.
Winfrey first came to Chicago in 1984 to host WLS-TV’s morning talk show, A.M. Chicago. After the show hit No. 1 in the market, the show became The Oprah Winfrey Show the following year.
In 1990, Winfrey moved her show to Harpo Studios. By doing so, Winfrey is attributed to helping transform the then-struggling city into a dining, shopping, and residential area.
In 2011, the street outside Harpo Studios was named “Oprah Winfrey Way” by then-Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
