Whatchoo Talkin’ ‘Bout, Sears Tower?
It was announced a few months ago, but today it becomes official: the Sears Tower in Chicago has officially been renamed Willis Tower. Willis Group Holdings had to lease a mere 3.5% of the 110 floors for 15 years to secure the naming rights. According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times,
“How did [Joseph Plumeri, chairman of Willis] get those rights, even though Willis will lease only 3.5 percent of the 110-story tower? ‘I asked,’ he said.” 1
Many Chicagoans are upset with the renaming of an iconic building. If you want to verbally spar with those set in the past, remind them that “Sears Tower” was effectively a corporate name as well and Sears fled the city in 1993 for the suburbs. In fact, with the building completed in 1973, Sears has been gone almost as long as they had occupied the building.
The significance of the building is its height. The Sears Tower was the world’s tallest building until 1998, and it is still the tallest if you include the monstrous antennas, which is kind of a bogus claim. That’s like saying Fletch is 6’9″ with the Afro. Currently, a building called Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world, but the newly named Willis Tower still claims the U.S. title.
Read on:
SunTimes.com – Goodbye, Sears Tower; hello, Willis Tower
(Fletch image taken from: http://www.fletchwon.net/chick.html)
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