Oprah's Harpo Studios Soon to be New McDonald's Corporate Headquarters

Posted by Leo Clark. on Saturday, June 4th, 2016 at 8:10pm.

McDonald's Moving Headquarters to the West LoopAccording to multiple reports, it appears McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food chain, is finally making its way to downtown Chicago. Crain’s Chicago initially broke the story late last week and to the surprise of some, the Oak Brook-based company will soon be making plans to move its corporate campus to the Harpo Studios site in the West Loop, where developer Sterling Bay plans to develop a brand new campus.

Famed Chicago native Oprah Winfrey originally sold the Harpo Studios building to Sterling Bay back in 2014 for $32 million, which aside from being the location where the Oprah Winfrey and numerous other TV productions were filmed, also helped transform the West Loop neighborhood into what it is today.

Prior to the announcement, McDonald’s flirted with moving to One Prudential Plaza in downtown Chicago last year, only to later back out of what some assumed was a done deal. Harpo Studios officially closed back in December of 2015 and has been vacant ever since, so if the McDonald’s deal does in fact happen, look for demolition to begin sooner rather than later.

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