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Report: McDonald's near deal to move HQ out of Oak Brook

McDonald's is near a deal to leave its Oak Brook headquarters and move to the former Harpo Studios campus in Chicago, Crain's Chicago Business is reporting.

Crain's cites "people familiar with the deal" in reporting that McDonald's is in advanced negotiations with Sterling Bay, which owns the old Harpo office space on Randolph Street. McDonald's would lease the more than 300,000 square feet of office space from Sterling Bay.

In an email to the Daily Herald Wednesday evening, Terri Hickey, a McDonald's spokeswoman, would neither confirm nor deny Crain's report.

"We're not going to speculate, and when we have information to share it will be with our employees first," Hickey said.

Oak Brook Village President Gopal Lalmalani said that while rumors of McDonald's leaving Oak Brook have been out there for a while, the village hasn't heard anything official about it from McDonald's.

"They haven't come to us to talk about it," Lalmalani said. "If they are leaving we are obviously disappointed. We have a good relationship with them."

Sterling Bay would not give a comment to Crain's.

McDonald's has long been at least exploring office space in Chicago.

Last year McDonald's abandoned a deal involving Prudential Plaza in the city. In that deal, reported by Crain's in September, McDonald's had signed a letter of intent for more than 350,000 square feet, enough space for more than 1,000 workers. At the time, Crain's reported, McDonald's denied it was looking to relocate its headquarters or to move a large number of workers from the suburbs.

Then in March Crain's cited anonymous sources who said McDonald's was beginning to interview office tenant brokers. The report said McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook informed employees the company is exploring all options as potential alternatives to its Oak Brook campus.

Crain's said Easterbrook told employees Feb. 4 the company's Oak Brook campus is showing its age and becoming more difficult and expensive to maintain.

"Over the past year, we have challenged every aspect of our business, assessing what's best for the long term, and we will continue to do so," McDonald's spokeswoman Becca Hary told the Daily Herald at the time. She would not confirm the report of a possible move.

Last week, Easterbrook told shareholders at their annual meeting that the company is considering whether it's in the right facilities as it examines its business, according to the Chicago Tribune.

More than 2,000 people are stationed in the Oak Brook offices.

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