IIRC, back in 2011 George was going to build his own studio somewhere on the grounds of Skywalker Ranch, but the neighbors objected and he decided to build low income housing instead.

We didn’t find out until after the Disney deal that the real reason he wanted his own studio space was so he could make the ST right there in his backyard.

Maybe I’m not remembering the timeline of events clearly, but I want to say Kathleen Kennedy became president several months before the Disney buyout and that part of the reason George hired her was because he was selling the company (which, again, the rest of us wouldn’t find out until later).