{"id":13323,"date":"2017-01-31T14:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T20:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13323"},"modified":"2017-01-31T15:46:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:46:27","slug":"wgn-studios-sold-22-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/01\/31\/wgn-studios-sold-22-million\/","title":{"rendered":"WGN studios sold for $22 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WGN<\/a>

<\/a> WGN Studios (Photo: Google Maps)<\/p><\/div>\n

Tribune Media<\/a> has sold the historic studios of WGN-Channel 9<\/a> and surrounding property to a Chicago real estate developer.<\/p>\n

Sources said R2 Companies<\/a>\u00a0was expected to close Tuesday on the $22.2 million acquisition of the 132,000 square-foot building and 10-acre lot at 2501 West Bradley Place near Western Avenue and Addison Street in the North Center neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The deal includes a long-term lease with renewal options for Tribune Media to continue to operate its flagship television station along with CLTV<\/a> cable news channel and WGN America<\/a> cable network at the site.<\/p>\n

News that Tribune Media was putting its studios and offices on the market was first reported here <\/a>in December 2015. The move was part of outgoing CEO Peter Liguori\u2019s strategy to generate revenue by selling off the company\u2019s extensive real estate holdings. Tribune Tower, the 36-story neo-Gothic landmark at 435 North Michigan Avenue, was sold last August.<\/p>\n

Opened in 1961, the headquarters of \u201cChicago\u2019s Very Own\u201d is familiar to generations of Chicagoans who traipsed through its hallways as visitors to \u201cBozo\u2019s Circus,\u201d the legendary children\u2019s show that originated from Studio 1 for four decades. The building also housed\u00a0news\/talk WGN AM 720<\/a> from 1961 to 1986.<\/p>\n

R2 Companies, a privately-held investment and management firm with offices on the Near West Side, owns and operates more than 2.5 million square feet of real estate, primarily in Chicago and the Midwest, according to its website.<\/a><\/p>\n

After this story was posted, Paul Rennie, president and general manager of WGN, sent the following note to employees:<\/strong><\/p>\n

All,<\/em><\/p>\n

The real estate sale of our building is expected to close later today, and as you undoubtedly know, is already being reported by some media outlets.\u00a0 For all of us, this is business as usual, there are no work related changes.\u00a0 We have a long term lease for this building with the new landlord.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our landlord is very pleased that we are here for the long-term and has great confidence in our business.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tribune Media has sold the historic studios of WGN-Channel 9 and surrounding property to a Chicago real estate developer. Sources said R2 Companies\u00a0was expected to close Tuesday on the $22.2 million acquisition of the 132,000 square-foot building and 10-acre lot at 2501 West Bradley Place near Western Avenue and Addison Street in the North Center... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13323"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13329,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13323\/revisions\/13329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}