The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) will be packing up its 200 employees now working out of the Wilshire Courtyard in the Miracle Mile and moving them a couple of miles north to The Lot at Santa Monica and Formosa Ave.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story noting that OWN is moving out of their current “office park” location to a full-service studio that offers production sound stages, screening rooms and better security than their current location on Wilshire Blvd. OWN has signed a lease for three years for three floors in the newly constructed five story building pictured above on The Lot.
WeHo Daily reported this week that The Lot, now owned by real estate giant the CIM Group, is continuing to ruffle local feathers with its demolition of the Mary Pickford Building, and may be reneging on its plans to preserve historic structures that face Santa Monica Blvd and Formosa Ave. The Lot has quite a storied history in filmmaking history: a chronological list of iconic televsion shows and  films shot there is listed on The Lot History webpage and include West Side Story, Some Like it Hot and Wuthering Heights and currently, HBO’s True Blood.
No doubt Oprah and her team, who are expanding scripted programming for OWN and like the creative vibe of The Lot, are hoping to make a bit of history there themselves.
