Another remnant of Oprah’s former Harpo Studios to be demolished

Well that didn’t take very long. After being approved by the Chicago Plan Commission just yesterday, a planned two-building condominium project for Chicago’s West Loop is already getting ready to clear space. Much like McDonald’s upcoming corporate headquarters rising across the street at 110 N. Carpenter, the building at 1115 W. Washington replaces a structure that was once part of Oprah’s Chicago-based Harpo Studios television production company.

The demolition permit was in fact dated a day before the city commission met to vet the site’s future plan. This is hardly unusual since developers aren’t typically required to gain approval for a new project before demo can begin on existing buildings. In fact, the practice of clearing a site early is often adopted as a means to lower assessments on a given property.

Booth Hansen

Chicago-based Peerless Real Estate Investment will construct twin condominium buildings designed by Booth Hansen at the old Harpo building site at 1115 W. Washington as well as at 19-27 N. May. Each structure would rise nine stories and deliver 28 large, multi-bedroom, "family-style" condos priced as high as $500 per square foot.

According to Peerless, construction work will start on the Washington parcel in April or May and should take between 15 and 18 months to complete. The May Street building is expected to start some time later to better allow the current commercial tenants time to move out.

• Demolition permit at 1115 W Washington Blvd in Chicago [Chicago Cityscape]
• Two-building condo development near McDonald’s future HQ shown to West Loop neighbors [Curbed Chicago]