The Queen of Media’s footprint in Chicago is decreasing, as Oprah Winfrey has sold the four-building campus of Harpo Studios to a Chicago developer in a sale-lease back agreement.
Winfrey sealed the deal over the weekend, concluding talks that began last October, to sell the three to five-acre campus. A spokeswoman for Harpo Studios confirmed the deal, to the Chicago Tribune, that the property would be leased back to Harpo for two years, with the studio continues to produce programming for OWN. The property is estimated to sell at $32 million. The spokeswoman did not release the financial details of the deal.
Winfrey purchased the Near West Side property in 1988 and moved her talk show to the then-struggling city neighborhood. Harpo Studios produced “The Oprah Show” from 1990 until 2011, the year she signed off to birth the Los Angeles-based Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The Harpo Studios Chicago location continued to produce content for OWN as her flagship network gained footing in cable television. About 200 employees continue to work from the studio.
Over the years, Winfrey expanded the property to double the size. Her presence in the area is credited with a renaissance of dining, shopping, and residential properties in the neighborhood.
The sale of Harpo Studios is one of many properties Winfrey has sold in Chicago, since ending her talk show. Winfrey put her sprawling Chicago condo on the market in January 2014 for $7.75 million. She continues to own small residential properties in Elmwood Park, Illinois and Merrillville, Indiana.
Oprah Winfrey Way, the street outside Harpo Studios and named by former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, will keep the Queen of Media’s name alive in the city.