The building was renamed to Willis Tower in 2009, when London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased a portion of the building and obtained the building's naming rights, which was agreed as a part of the lease. These elements are louvres to ventilate the building's environmental support systems and obscure its belted trusses. In 2017, Blackstone announced a $500 million "facelift" for the property which would include the construction of a six-story commercial complex in the tower's plaza area. [5] It is currently the third-tallest building in the United States and the Western hemisphere – and the 23rd-tallest in the world. The Sears Tower was the first building to use this innovative design. At 1,482.6 feet (451.9 m) tall, including decorative spires, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, controversially claimed to be the tallest building in the world in 1998. The firm consulted with local and federal authorities and the applicable law, then offered Sears two options: the Goose Island area northwest of downtown, and a two-block area bounded by Franklin Street on the east, Jackson Boulevard on the south, Wacker Drive on the west and Adams Street on the north, with Quincy Street running through the middle from east to west. [33] The naming rights are valid for 15 years so it is possible that the building’s name could change again in 2024. It was both structurally efficient and economic: at 1,450 feet, it provided more space and rose higher than the Empire State Building and cost much less per unit area. In 2003, Trizec sold its holdings of the tower to MetLife for $9 million. [10] Attorneys from the Arnstein firm, headed by Andrew Adsit, began buying the properties parcel by parcel. From 1969 to 1978, this record was held by John Hancock Center, whose antenna reached a height of 1,500 feet (457.2 m), 49 feet (14.9 m) taller than the Sears Tower's original height. The new owners were rebuffed in renaming deals with CDW Corp in 2005 and the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2008. The 1990s saw a shift in ownership when the Toronto-based TrizecHahn Corporation bought the ownership rights of the tower from AEW in 1997 for $110 million USD. The new name is the work of Willis Group Holdings, a London-based company that will be moving into the tower this summer. However, the extension of the tower's western antenna in June 2000 to 1,729 feet (527 m) allowed it to just barely claim the title of tallest building by pinnacle height. [34] The quoted price was $840 million, with $825 million held in a mortgage. The construction cost about US$150 million,[18] equivalent to $860 million in 2020 dollars. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building's owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110. The building's total building area stands at 351,846 m. It remains the world's tallest steel-construction building. Willis Towers Watson is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. The 103rd floor observation deck is 1,354 ft (413 m) above the Franklin Street entrance. In the 2019 film Captive State, which takes place a decade after an extraterrestrial race has taken over the Earth in an alien invasion, the aliens in Chicago have replaced the tower's antennas with their own jamming device to shut down all digital communication worldwide. In 2008, Shanghai World Financial Center claimed the records of tallest building by roof and highest occupied floor. [needs update]. The building has appeared in numerous films and television shows set in Chicago such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where Ferris and company visit the observation deck. Each year, more than one million people visit its observation deck, the highest in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. According to a report from The Associated Press, the company received the naming rights at no extra cost as part of its lease agreement with the building’s owners. constructeur, entrepeneur, inventeur, Art of the Skyscraper. Structurae Version 7.0 - © 1998-2020 Nicolas Janberg. The northeast and southwest tubes reach the 66th floor; the north, east, and south tubes end at the 90th. [54], Upon completion, One World Trade Center in New York City surpassed the Willis Tower through its structural and pinnacle heights, but not by roof, observation deck elevation, or highest occupied floor.[55]. As part of the 1994 agreement, AEW and Metlife would be able to take official ownership of the building in 2003. The quoted price was $840 million, with $825 million held in a mortgage. The design was inspired by an advertisement for a package of cigarettes. Deputy FBI Director John Pistole described their plot as "more aspirational than operational". The 110-storey structure, which opened in 1973, is being rechristened the Willis Tower on Thursday. In the 2014 film Divergent, it is shown abandoned and decayed in a future Chicago. Of these, Petronas was the tallest in the category of height to the top of architectural elements, meaning spires but not antennas. All rights reserved. The Willis Tower remains the third tallest building in the Americas (after One World Trade Center and Central Park Tower) and the Western Hemisphere. Since no deal had been worked out to rename the building by that date, it retained the Sears Tower name until Willis Group Holdings negotiated the naming rights as part of their lease on the building. Text imported from Wikipedia article "Willis Tower" and modified on 14 May 2020 according to the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license. Since then, the tower is being referred to as the “Willis Tower.” A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis, [30] [31] [32] and the building was renamed the Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. One World Trade Center became taller by pinnacle height with the addition of a 359-foot (109.4-meter) antenna, bringing its total height to 1,727 feet (526.4 m). [65], The naming rights are valid for 15 years, so it is possible that the building's name could change again as soon as 2024. [6][7][8] Other major tenants include the building's namesake Willis Towers Watson and law firms Schiff Hardin and Seyfarth Shaw. According to the tower’s owners, the second building was considered in the original design. Amanda Jacobs Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 at 12:01 AM Mar 17, ... the company received the naming rights at no extra cost as part of its lease agreement with the building’s owners. The northeast and southwest tubes reach the 66th floor; the north, east, and south tubes end at the 90th. As Sears continued to offer optimistic projections for growth, the tower's proposed floor count increased rapidly into the low hundreds, surpassing the height of New York's unfinished World Trade Center to become the world's tallest building. On August 13, 2012, United Airlines announced it would move its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive to Willis Tower. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as a term of its lease. Details. Sears Tower's owners, a group that includes Skokie, Ill.-based American Landmark Properties Ltd., have upped the ante, offering naming rights to … Taipei 101 in Taiwan claimed the record in three of the four categories in 2004 to become recognized as the tallest building in the world. [6], In 2015, the Blackstone Group purchased the tower for a reported $1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a U.S. property outside of New York City. ), WXFT-TV 50 permanent digital, 230 kW, Univision Communications, WTTW TV 47 digital backup, 150 kW, Window To the World Communications, WLS-TV 52 digital backup, 220 kW, ABC Owned Television Stations, WMAQ-TV 5 analog, 20 kW (Analog Broadcast discontinued as of June 12, 2009. [29], As the maturation of the mortgage approached, Sears renegotiated the loan in 1994. In March 2009, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building and obtained the naming rights. The contract included naming rights for 15 years. London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd[dubious – discuss] leased more than 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2) of space on three floors in 2009. Sears hired architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design one of the largest office buildings in the world. Another pass called Day/Night Pass which is priced at $45 per person will give you access to the Skydeck twice in a … Details. The tower was completed in May 1973. The height was restricted by a limit imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to protect air traffic. The plan was eventually cancelled as city zoning did not permit construction of a such a tall building in that location. Willis Tower, formerly (1973–2009) Sears Tower, skyscraper office building in Chicago, Illinois, located at 233 South Wacker Drive, that is one of the world’s tallest buildings.The Sears Tower opened to tenants in 1973, though construction was not actually completed until 1974. The naming rights are valid for 15 years, so it is possible that the building's name could change again as soon as 2024. The all-glass boxes, informally dubbed "The Ledge", allow visitors to see the street below. Since 2007, the owners had considered plans for the construction of a hotel on the north side of Jackson Boulevard, between Wacker Drive and Franklin Street, close to the entrance of the observation deck, above the tower’s underground parking garage. [30] Just two years later, Sears began a move of its own offices out of the building[citation needed] to a new campus in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, which was completed in 1995. The first suit was filed by the state attorney in neighboring Lake County on March 17, 1972. Elevators reach the top in about 60 seconds, allowing occupants to feel the change in pressure as they ascend. It was hoped that a new, silver, paint-job would "rebrand" the building and highlight its advances in energy efficiency for an estimated cost of $50 million. Hours:9am-10pm Mar-Sep, 10am-8pm Oct-Feb, last entry 30min prior. The Willis Group, a UK-based insurance broker will hold the naming rights until at least 2024. In the 2013 film Man of Steel, the tower is the location of the offices of the Daily Planet.[84]. [53] Of these, Petronas was the tallest in the category of height to the top of architectural elements, meaning spires but not antennas. On July 16, 2009, the name of the building was officially changed to Willis Tower. ", eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world, List of buildings with 100 floors or more, List of tallest buildings and structures in the world, List of tallest buildings in the United States, List of tallest freestanding structures in the world, List of tallest freestanding steel structures, "Blackstone Group Purchases Landmark Willis Tower in Chicago", "Five things you need to know about pioneering architect Fazlur Rahman Khan", "A Day with United Management: Elite Status, Mileage Devaluation, and Increasing Change Fees", "Morgan Stanley moving second office to Willis Tower", "Inflation Calculator – Find US Dollar's Value from 1913–2015", "A CASE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT, RE-FINANCINGS AND SALE OF NORTH AMERICA'S TALLEST BUILDING", "A Look at the Finer Points of the Sears Tower Sale", "MetLife to Complete Sale of Chicago's Sears Tower", "Sears Tower bomb plot leader Narseal Batiste jailed", "Sears Tower to Lose Largest Tenant - The Chicago 77", David Roeder. The alleged leader of the group, Narseal Batiste, was sentenced to 13½ years in prison. A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis [60] [61] [62] and the building was renamed Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. The tourist entrance can be found on the south side of the building along Jackson Boulevard. (The highest natural point in Illinois is the. The tower is home to more than 100 businesses including law, insurance, transportation, financial companies and more. Goodwin stated that the reason he made the climb was to call attention to shortcomings in high-rise rescue and firefighting techniques. Willis Tower In 2009 the company Willis Group Holdings Ltd. bought the building and naming rights were part of the negotiations, to be renamed Willis Tower. On June 30, 1972, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the previous rulings by Lake and Cook County Circuit Courts, by a letter order with a written opinion to follow. In 1982, two antennas were installed which brought its total height to 1,707 feet (520.3 m), making it taller than the John Hancock Center but not One World Trade Center. When consolidating businesses in Chicago, Willis received the naming rights to Sears Tower which was re-named to Willis Tower. The western antenna was later extended, bringing the overall height to 1,729 feet (527 m) on June 5, 2000, to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV. The naming rights issue continued into 2013, when Eric Zorn noted in the Chicago Tribune that "We're stubborn about such things. They use Willis Tower for cover before using wing suits to descend into the city streets. The remaining west and center tubes reach 108 floors. The naming rights are valid for 15 years, so it is possible that the building's name could change again in 2024 or later. The Chicago Tribune joked that the building's new name reminded them of the oft-repeated "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" Bill’s question is based on the premise a building can become “too old.” At completion in 1973, it surpassed the World Trade Center in New York City to become the tallest building in the world, a title that it held for nearly 25 years; it was also the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere for 41 years, until the new One World Trade Center surpassed it in 2014. [20], Black bands appear on the tower around the 29th–32nd, 64th–65th, 88th–89th, and 104th–108th floors. [34] The design allows the addition of extra height to the tower if necessary. The Willis Tower observation deck, called the Skydeck, opened on June 22, 1974. While it held the title of "Tallest Office Building" until 2014, it lost the title of "Tallest Man-Made Structure" after only 3 years. Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building, is about to break another record. The firm consulted with local and federal authorities and the applicable law, then offered Sears two options: the The construction cost about US$150 million, equivalent to $860 million in 2020 dollars. There are around 40,000 sprinkler heads in the building, installed at a cost of $4 million.[21]. They paid $840 million for the tower in 2004. Located on the 103rd floor at an elevation of 1,353 feet (412.4 m), it is the highest observation deck in the United States[citation needed] and one of Chicago's most famous tourist attractions. The sellers, including an Illinois real estate firm called American Landmark Properties, stand to make a tidy profit on the transaction. In the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it is featured in a number of scenes. Smaller floorplates required a taller structure to yield sufficient square footage. They will have to find some other means of ensuring reception such as taller antennas. [40] In response to the perceived threat of an attack, the building's largest tenant at this time, Ernst & Young, moved to North Wacker Drive in early 2009. [44] On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed Willis Tower. Their solution resulted in the addition of a new entryway dubbed by many as the "Lunchbox Entrance.". In July 1990, with no potential buyer apparent, Sears took out a mortgage loan on the tower for $850 million from MetLife and AEW Capital Management, with Metlife as the holder of the mortgage note. It was topped with two antennas for television and radio broadcasting. The former Sears Tower was rechristened in 2009 in a move that outraged some Chicagoans and even tenants of the building. They wanted 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 square meters) of space. In 2015, the Blackstone Group purchased the tower for a reported $1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a U.S. property outside of New York City. It should be a no-brainer: Aon just spent big bucks to vanquish their rival and declare the Willis brand dead. The cost of admission for children is $18 and for adults – it is $26. Eastdil, the commercial real estate firm handling the sale, thinks that London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings got a steal at $1 million per year for … The structure was completed in May 1973. Elevators reach the top in about 60 seconds, allowing occupants to feel the change in pressure as they ascend. Sears asked its outside counsel, Arnstein, Gluck, Weitzenfeld & Minow (now known as Arnstein & Lehr, LLP) to suggest a location. Their team of Colombian-Peruvian architect Bruce Graham and Bangladeshi-Pakistani structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan designed the building as nine square "tubes" (each essentially a separate building), clustered in a 3×3 matrix forming a square base with 225-foot (69 m) sides. In February 1982, two television antennas were added to the structure, increasing its total height to 1,707 feet (520.3 m). All data contained herein is subject to change and is provided without warranties. Sears and the City of Chicago approved the design and the first steel was put in place in April 1971. Do you really want to delete this item from your favorites? The Skydeck competes with the John Hancock Center's observation floor a mile and a half away but reaching 323 feet (98.5 m) lower. On August 12, 2007, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was reported by its developers to have surpassed the tower in all height categories. It is portrayed as having its height surpassed by the fictional USR (United States Robotics) Building. Their contract included naming rights for 15 years. Stations at the same height on the same mast indicate the use of a diplexer into the same shared antenna. It is the eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world by pinnacle height. In the ensuing controversy, four categories of "tallest building" were created. Easily secure Willis Tower parking with SpotHero to book a spot in advance at an affordable rate. On May 26, 1972, the Commission declined to take action on the grounds it did not have jurisdiction. The boxes, which can accommodate 5 short tons (4.5 metric tons), opened to the public on July 2, 2009. Cost more than $175 million to build; 104 elevators moving 1,200 feet per minute; More than 16,000 square feet of conference rooms; 99 th floor event space; 3 entrances; WILLIS TOWER TODAY. [49][50] On May 29, 2014, the laminated glass flooring of one of the boxes shattered while visitors were inside but there were no injuries. The naming rights did not cost Willis any additional money, and they will retain those rights until at least 2024. Upon completion, One World Trade Center in New York City surpassed the Willis Tower through its structural and pinnacle heights, but not by roof, observation deck elevation, or highest occupied floor. Wolkenkratzer Geschichte, Form und Funktion, Horizons architecture / Architectural Horizons. At 1,482.6 feet (451.9 m) tall, including decorative spires, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, controversially claimed to be the tallest building in the world in 1998. Sears and the City of Chicago approved the design and the first steel was put in place in April 1971. The flooring on that same box shattered on June 12, 2019. Sears' optimistic growth projections were not realized. In the 1987 VHS video game Captain Power set in 2147, you can fly around the tower which is at that time called "The Tower of the Seer". catchphrase from the American television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and considered the name-change ill-advised in "a city with a deep appreciation of tradition and a healthy ego, where some Chicagoans still mourn the switch from Marshall Field's to Macy's". London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd[dubious – discuss] leased more than 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2) of space on three floors in 2009. The tower retained one record: its antenna exceeded Taipei 101's spire in height. The naming rights did not cost Willis any additional money, and they will retain those rights until at … In January 2009, a major renovation of the Skydeck was begun, including the installation of retractable glass balconies which extend approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) from the facade of the 103rd floor, overlooking South Wacker Drive. Construction [85], In Sufjan Stevens' 2005 album Illinois, the tower is referenced in the track "Seer's Tower.". A thick fog settled in near the end of his climb, making the last 20 stories of the building's glass and steel exterior slippery. According to the tower's owners, the second building was considered in the original design. Willis Tower Skydeck Early Access Ticket with Breakfast. In 1984, Sears decided to improve the appeal of the lower floors of the tower to pedestrians. In July 1990, with no potential buyer apparent, Sears took out a mortgage loan on the tower for $850 million from MetLife and AEW Capital Management, with Metlife as the holder of the mortgage note. The building's name was changed to Willis Tower in July 2009 after the Willis Group bought the skyscraper. On August 12, 2007, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was reported by its developers to have surpassed the tower in all height categories. Despite multiple changes in ownership in the 2000s, it wasn’t until the year 2009 that a company, the London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, acquired the naming rights as well. In 1994 Sears sold the building, and the naming rights of Sears expired in 2003. It is currently the third-tallest building in the United States and the Western hemisphere – and the 23rd-tallest in the world. Attorneys from the Arnstein firm, headed by Andrew Adsit, began buying the properties parcel by parcel. It had thousands of workers in offices in the Chicago area. [27] The court's written opinion was filed on September 20, 1972. The naming rights deal, arranged by what was then called Willis … After selection of the latter site, permits to vacate Quincy Street were obtained. A thick fog settled in near the end of his climb, making the last 20 stories of the building's glass and steel exterior slippery. The building was most recently sold in 2015 and the new owners have a number of plans to redevelop the property. The suits alleged that above that point television reception would deteriorate and cause property values to plummet. [36][37] The case went to court in October 2007. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as a term of its lease. In the movie Category 6: Day of Destruction, it is damaged by a tornado. The design allows the addition of extra height to the tower if necessary. Although Sears' naming rights expired in 2003, the building continued to be called the Sears Tower for several years, despite multiple changes in ownership. To find some other means of ensuring reception such as taller antennas. in 2004, the. Accommodate 5 short tons ( 4.5 metric tons ), opened on June,. Other tenants until needed steel-construction building when consolidating businesses in Chicago, 06/2015, Den Himmel.. 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