Oprah Winfrey, the media giant and talk show host who makes it to the Forbes celebrity list consistently, was based in Chicago and had set up her Harpo Studio there. Her long running talk show that discontinued earlier this year was based in Chicago. Over the years Oprah had acquired several pieces of residential real estate in the area. One of them is an eight room, 4,607 square feet co-op unit located on Streeterville. Oprah had bought the unit in 2006 for $5.6 million but never moved into it. She has now placed the unit up for rent for $15,000 per month and is the latest to join the list of luxury rentals. It is difficult to say if it will get the same response as the Celebrity luxury yachts for rent.
After her show was discontinued Oprah spends most of her time in California or Hawaii. The three bedroom co-op unit was lying vacant all along as she had continued living in her massive duplex condominium spread in a different building a few blocks away. She had listed the property briefly from June 2008 to January 2009 for an asking price of $6 million. She had withdrawn it when she realized that it would be difficult to find a buyer due to the downturn.
The sixth-floor co-op is one of 13 apartments in a Beaux Arts-style building that was built in 1913 and designed by architect Benjamin Marshall. Apart from a 1,241 square foot master bedroom with his and her bathrooms the unit features an en-suite guest bedroom, a formal dining room, butler’s pantry, wine room, a custom kitchen, library and an inner foyer. Oprah’s primary residence is a lavish estate in Montecito, California. She is reported to have purchased the estate way back in 2001 for $50 million.
