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One of the world's most iconic skyscrapers has
long tempted Chicago visitors to squint, crane their necks and try
to see the tip of the country's tallest building. But starting
Thursday, Sears Tower will be gone.

      
Sort of. Its black, block-like architecture and towering rooftop
spikes will remain, but the widely recognized name it carried for
three decades will be pushed out by a British company.

      
Willis Tower will be introduced to Chicago by Mayor Richard M.
Daley and others on Thursday during a public renaming ceremony
hosted by Willis Group Holdings. The London-based insurance
brokerage secured the naming rights as part an agreement to lease
140,000 square feet of space, and has said it plans to bring
hundreds of jobs to the city.

      
"It's always going to be the Sears Tower. It's part of Chicago
and I won't call it Willis Tower. In Chicago we hold fast,"
Chicago teacher Marianne Turk, 46, said as she stood in line this
week to go up to the building's Skydeck.

      
The 110-story skyscraper has been known as Sears Tower since it
opened in 1973. Its original tenant, Sears Roebuck and Co., moved
out in 1992 but its sign stayed. A real estate investment group,
American Landmark Properties of Skokie, now owns the
1,450-foot-tall building.
      
"Everybody knows that tower," Willis Group Holdings chief
executive Joe Plumeri said ahead of Thursday's ceremony. "If we're
good corporate citizens and do what we should, hopefully Willis and
the tower and Chicago will all become synonymous."

      
Historically, skyscrapers have been businesses unto themselves,
acting as a commodity to compete for high rents and tenants, said
Carol Willis, founder and director of The Skyscraper Museum in New
York.

     
"Naming rights are an asset of the building. They can be turned
into money and that's what the new owners are doing," she said.

Other well known buildings have undergone name changes - New
York City's Pan Am Building became the MetLife Building, and
Chicago's Standard Oil Building is now the Aon Center - but the
public hasn't always taken to them.

      
The Chicago tower's owners acknowledge it will take time for
some people to accept the new name, but they're confident it will
happen eventually.


      
"It is an icon, but I believe over time it will become known as
Willis Tower," said John Huston of American Landmark Properties,
who represents the building ownership.

      
Alex Lucas, 29, an Arlington Heights business systems analyst
who works down the street from the skyscraper, was so displeased
with the name change that he started a Web site,


      
"Chicago is going to lose a big part of what is its identity
and I don't know what's going to fill that space," Lucas said.

      
The new name isn't the only major change this year. Last month,
owners announced a $350 million greening effort, complete with wind
turbines and solar panels, along with plans for a 50-story luxury
hotel. For tourists, glass-bottomed enclosed balconies on the 103rd
Skydeck were opened earlier this month, giving visitors a
1,353-foot look straight down.

All these efforts were part of a plan aimed at remarketing the
building as a pioneer and reintroducing it to the world, owners
say.

      
Reluctance to let go of the name is understandable, said
Plumeri, Willis Group Holdings' CEO. But, he added, "By the same
token life moves on, nothing ever stays the same. Chicago is an
evolving city."
      
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On the Net:
      Willis Tower: http://www.willistower.com

Gallery

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One of the world's most iconic skyscrapers has
long tempted Chicago visitors to squint, crane their necks and try
to see the tip of the country's tallest building. But starting
Thursday, Sears Tower will be gone.


Chicago's Sears Tower becomes Willis Tower

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