Goodbye Sears Tower – Hello Willis Tower
London insurance giant Willis Group Holdings is changing the name of the Sears Tower to the Willis Tower. As the dominant tenant in the Chicago landmark they are exercising their naming rights to one of the tallest buildings in the world.
The insurance broker announced Thursday morning that it will move to the Sears Tower and that the building will be renamed Willis Tower.
London-based Willis Group Holdings said it will consolidate five local offices into more than 140,000 square feet in the 110-story building at 233 S. Wacker Drive. Almost 500 employees will move into the building, Willis said.
Willis said the space is costing the company $14.50 a square foot and that it is not paying extra for the naming rights.
Three years ago, when Sears Tower’s ownership group was looking to refinance the building, a representative compared the value of the naming rights to the building and its observation deck to stadium naming-rights deal, citing examples ranging with fees from $5.8 million to $10 million a year. Chicago Real Estate Daily.
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Comment by Tony Sena on 12 March 2009:
That will be kind of strange that it will no longer be called the Sears Tower.
Comment by Jakamoe on 12 March 2009:
I think this is great news that a great company like Willis is making the effort to make the most significant US office building their Chicago Headquarters.
Good news for Chicago!
Comment by ElBostonian on 12 March 2009:
Whatcha talkin’ about Willis?
Comment by News Review on 12 March 2009:
The change of the name of the building is warranted since there is a change of management from sears holdings corp. to willis.. This might be a good news as they have announced that they are going to offer jobs to the residents.. Correct me if i’m wrong but i think the disadvantage of this is that the tower becomes unpopular.. People from around the world will not recognize the name Willis Tower.. It would be hard to build up the popularity of the tower in such name, i think.. Anyways, this shouldn’t be a great issue to ponder on..
Comment by Steve on 17 March 2009:
Chicago’s iconic landmark may be getting a new name: Willis Tower, but why not commemorate it in the best way possible; with a T-shirt. Check out this shirt posted on Haha Press. http://www.hahapress.com/shirt/view/34
Comment by Nikki on 18 March 2009:
Hey we still have Sears here!!!
Comment by San Mateo Real Estate on 20 March 2009:
I will continue to call it “Sears Tower” for the rest of my lifetime.
Comment by Joseph on 16 July 2009:
AN OPEN LETTER TO WILLIS : Your company Willis screwed up when you changed the name from The Sears Tower to The Willis Tower BUT that is nothing compared to the outrage of myself, co worker, friends and family that I have talked to about your terrible decision to donate $100,000 towards trying to HELP That Horrible Mayor Daley land the 2016 Olympics. I don’t know why you made the bad decision to advertise that in the Chicago newspapers. Really a bad choice. I don’t know if you read the Chicago newspapers or watch Chicago news, BUT us Chicagoans overwhelmingly do NOT want the 2016. MY neighbors, friends etc are not pleased that your company did that. Stupid move. I will never ever do business with your company EVER. Same with everyone I talk to. By donating money to terrible Mayor Daley’s pipe dream, I believe many people will boycott your company. Changing the name, not important. Donating money for the Chicago 2016 is really unforgivable. Shame on you. Don’t you guys do your research?? Leads me to believe your company is pretty short sighted and careless. NO OLYMPICS 2016. Learn it , live it.