WGN sells off Studio

Back in 2015, FTVLive told you that Tribune had put their WGN studios up for sale. 

Well, over a year later, the building finally sold. 

The building, which opened in 1961, occupies a 132,000 square-foot building on a 10 acre lot.  

Greg Easterly, who was president and general manager of WGN at the time, assured employees when the sale sign went up, that it would have “no impact” on day-to-day operations of the station for the foreseeable future.

“Any sale of our building would include a long-term lease enabling us to continue to operate here, just as we have for years,” Easterly told staffers in a memo at the time.

A Chicago real estate developer bought the building and the lot around it for $22 million bucks. 

The staff got the memo of the sale yesterday, from new GM Paul Rennie:

All,

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.  For all of us, this is business as usual, there are no work related changes.  We have a long term lease for this building with the new landlord.

Our landlord is very pleased that we are here for the long-term and has great confidence in our business. 

Thanks

Paul

Many think the move by Tribune to sell the building shows that the company is desperate for cash.