Oprah Winfrey has agreed to sell the famed Harpo Studios where the "Oprah Winfrey Show" was shot from 1990 to 2011 to Sterling Bay Cos, a Chicago-based real estate firm, for $32 million, according to various news sources.
The property was put up for auction and attracted bidders from as far as China, reports Crain's Chicago Business. After much consideration, however, Winfrey decided to sell it to Sterling.
"We have entered into a purchasing agreement with Sterling Bay for the four-building Harpo Studios campus in Chicago's West Loop. 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," a spokeswoman for the studio told Crain's in a statement.
While the new owners will take over the property, the studio will remain in it for two more years. Winfrey will be leasing back the property for the period.
Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, the 3.5-acre property employs more than 200 workers. According to Contact Music, the studio played a major role in transforming the industrial neighborhood into an upscale part of town. In 2011, Richard Daley, then mayor of Chicago, named the street outside Harpo studio "Oprah Winfrey Way."
Winfrey started her talk-show career in Chicago. She first appeared on WLS TV's morning talk show "A.M. Chicago" in 1984. The show became a massive hit and was later converted into the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
Winfrey opened her own network, "Oprah Winfrey Network" (OWN), in January 2011, moving to Los Angeles to do so. The network airs in more than 80 million homes today.
Winfrey seems to be severing all ties with Chicago. More recently, she listed her Chicago home for $7.7 million. She has a large property portfolio that includes several properties in California, Hawaii, Colorado and New Jersey, among other places.
