Sears Tower renamed

Insurance company Willis Group Holdings says the building will now be called Willis Tower.

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer

In the past six months, how often have you looked at your 401(k) and other investment balances?
  • Every day
  • Once a week
  • Every month or so
  • I can't bear to look

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chicago's landmark Sears Tower, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, will be renamed Willis Tower after insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, the company announced Thursday.

"Willis Tower will make us a household name among our clients, prospective clients and in the larger business community," said Don Bailey, chairman and chief executive of Willis HRH, the company's North American business.

The London, England-based company said it will rent 140,000 square feet of the building at a cost of $14.50 per square foot. The move, which involves 500 employees and consolidating five area offices, is expected to be completed by late summer.

"We found a great opportunity, a great deal, in the Sears Tower," Joseph Plumeri, chairman and chief executive of the Willis Group, told CNN.

Willis Group Holdings (WSH) provides insurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting to corporations and public institutions around the world.

"This key new tenant underscores the importance of the building as a destination for successful businesses," said John Huston, of American Landmark Properties, Ltd., one of the investors that owns the tower, in a written statement.

Rita Athas, executive director of World Business Chicago, a not-for-profit economic development corporation, said the move demonstrates the Willis Group's commitment to the city and could boost the labor market there.

"Their decision speaks to the quality of Chicago's workforce, and our vibrant and supportive business community," Athas said in a written statement.

While the company expects to rechristen the building sometime this summer, it's not clear whether the new name will stick with native Chicagoans.

"The Sears Tower has been an icon here for the last quarter of a century," said John Russick, senior curator at the Chicago Historical Society. "For the generation that grew up calling it the Sears Tower, it'll be hard for people to shift and start calling it something else," he said.

Indeed, many long-time Chicago residents still refer to the Standard Oil Building, now know as the Aon Center, as "Big Stan" Russick said. That building's name has been changed twice since it was built in 1973.

The Sears Tower was opened in 1973 and is 1,729 feet tall, including its antenna. It was originally named for retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co., which moved its headquarters to Hoffman Estates, Ill. in 1992.

--CNN's Rachael Shackelford contributed to this report.  To top of page

Features
They're hiring!These Fortune 100 employers have at least 350 openings each. What are they looking for in a new hire? More
If the Fortune 500 were a country...It would be the world's second-biggest economy. See how big companies' sales stack up against GDP over the past decade. More
Sponsored By:
More Galleries
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More
Sponsors
Worry about the hackers you don't know 
Crime syndicates and government organizations pose a much greater cyber threat than renegade hacker groups like Anonymous. Play
GE CEO: Bringing jobs back to the U.S. 
Jeff Immelt says the U.S. is a cost competitive market for advanced manufacturing and that GE is bringing jobs back from Mexico. Play
Hamster wheel and wedgie-powered transit 
Red Bull Creation challenges hackers and engineers to invent new modes of transportation. Play

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.