Ear Hustle

Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios Will Close Its Doors On December 2015

Harpo-studio-sign-in-chicago-ill-usa

Officials for Oprah Winfrey said Tuesday that her West Loop TV studios will close in December.

The lease on the space, where Winfrey’s eponymous show was filmed for decades, runs until April 2016.

Harpo Studios had been at the center of Winfrey’s broadcast universe since it opened in 1990, hosting her syndicated daily talk show through its finale in 2011. Chicago-based real estate developer Sterling Bay Cos. bought the four-building Near West Side facility of the production company in 2014, paying a combined $30.5 million in five land transactions for about 170,000 square feet of space.

Winfrey moved to California in 2011 to helm OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, her cable channel.

Executives with OWN and Harpo Studios said the Chicago studios will be moved to network facilities in West Hollywood, Calif., by December.

“We have been fortunate to have this spectacular city of Chicago as our home for over 25 years and are thankful to everybody who has been a part of this great company,” Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, presidents of OWN and Harpo Studios, said in a statement.

During meetings Tuesday morning, Winfrey spelled out how the Chicago operation will be closed down, according to the source.

In a statement, Winfrey said: “Harpo Studios in Chicago was not just my home but also my life for nearly 30 years. I’ve spent more time there than anywhere else. I am so proud of what we created. It has been a blessing in my life and I thank everyone who has been a part of this great run. I am now looking ahead to inhabiting the new space on The Lot in California and carrying on the legacy of Harpo Studios with OWN programming.”

Source: Chicago Tribune

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