Oprah Winfrey, American media personality, producer and talk show host, announced Tuesday that her Harpo Studios in Chicago will be shut down by the end of 2015.

Winfrey is moving its production work to Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) headquarters in Los Angeles. OWN was founded by the former 'queen of daytime' in 2011 in LA, and Winfrey's executives have spent the past four years traveling to Chicago and Hollywood. Now, she wants all her operations under one roof.

Winfrey, 61, said, “I’ve spent more hours in this building than I have any other building on Earth. We were here when there was nothing but hoes and rats on the street, and now it’s one of the hottest neighborhoods in Chicago”.

According to her, Harpo Studios has been a 'blessing' in her life and she's now looking ahead to inhabiting her California studio.
She added that it’s high time to downsize this part of the business and move forward. Although she is sad to say goodbye, she is now looking ahead with the knowledge that what the future holds is even more than what she can see.

Winfrey sold the four-building Harpo Studios to the real estate development company Sterling Bay for $32million and the property was leased back to Harpo for two years. Although the lease is going to expires in April 2016, the studio will close in December 2015.

The closing of the Chicago offices after 26 years will impact around 200 employees and only a small portion of the Harpo staff will join OWN's 140 employees in LA. OWN moved into a new three-story space called The Lot two months ago.

Winfrey personally delivered the news to her staff in Chicago Tuesday morning.