Why the Sears Tower Became the Willis Tower (and Why Chicago Never Let Go)
Chicago's tallest building was renamed Willis Tower in 2009 under a naming deal with a London insurance broker. The history, the deal, and why most Chicagoans still call it the Sears Tower.
Ask a Chicagoan for directions and you'll hear it: "Head toward the Sears Tower." The sign says Willis Tower and has since 2009. The city mostly ignores it. Here's how the name changed, and why it never really stuck.
The tallest building in the world
Sears, Roebuck and Co., then the largest retailer in the world, built the tower as its headquarters. Construction started in August 1970, the building topped out in May 1973, and it opened that September. At 1,451 feet, it was the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998, when the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur passed it. The Skydeck opened in 1974.
Sears moves out
Sears didn't stay long. The company began leaving in 1992 and finished moving to a new campus in suburban Hoffman Estates by 1995. The tower kept the Sears name, through several owners, for years after Sears was gone.
Enter Willis
In 2009, the London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased roughly 140,000 square feet of space in the building, and the deal included naming rights. In July 2009 the Sears Tower officially became the Willis Tower, under a naming agreement reported to run 15 years.
Chicago did not take it well. Time magazine ranked it among the worst corporate name changes, and local coverage stayed sour for years. To plenty of people, it will always be the Sears Tower.
The Ledge
The same month the name changed, the Skydeck added The Ledge: glass boxes that stick out from the 103rd floor, where visitors stand on glass 1,353 feet above Wacker Drive. It's been one of the city's most photographed attractions ever since.
Above: the Skydeck in January 1985, from the hellgin founder's family photos.
Who owns it now
The Blackstone Group bought the tower in 2015 for about $1.3 billion. United Airlines is its largest tenant.
So what do you call it?
Officially: Willis Tower. In conversation, in plenty of Chicago households: the Sears Tower. Both will get you there.
More Chicago history: Kiddieland in Melrose Park and Dixie Square Mall. The YouTube channel Chicagoland History has a great video on this one too: "It's NOT the Willis Tower. It's the Sears Tower."
Source (1)
Photo: Sears Tower, Wacker Drive and Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL - 54188696032 by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0.