Sears Tower name to change to Willis Tower

[WriteDown]

Source: Chicago Tribune

ome this summer, Chicago's iconic landmark known around the world is getting a new moniker: Willis Tower.

Willis Group Holdings, a London-based insurance broker, announced Thursday that it will consolidate its area offices to Sears Tower and as part of the deal, gets to put its own name on the 36-year-old skyscraper.

Willis will move nearly 500 associates into Willis Tower, at 233 S. Wacker, initially occupying more than 140,000 square feet on multiple floors. The company said the move to the new space, at $14.50 per square foot, will result in significant real estate cost savings, and that there is no additional cost to the company associated with renaming the building.

"It was part of our negotiations," said Willis spokesman Will Thoretz. "We are actually not having to pay anything for renaming the building."....

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-sears-tower-name-change-willis-march12,0,7014962.story

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I can think for few things more foolish. Talk about bad PR.

[jobycom]

1. Whut chew talkin bout?

Someone was going to say it.

[B o d i]

2. Beat me to it

Saw the headline, and....

Sigh. Nicely played.

[jobycom]

3. Hey, it was either me, or one of the other 10K or so on here.

:rofl:

[Kat45]

38. Not me--I was thinking of George Jefferson's neighbor.

[awoke_in_2003]

29. Yeah...

and I was gonna be one of them :)

[benld74]

4. My Aunt worked for Sears, years back,,,

I still have a letter from her when the Tower was being built. She had the names of her nephews and nieces etched into the last girder placed atop the tower during it completion.
Guess thats my claim to fame.

[Downtown Hound]

5. Oh man, I'm from Chicago

And I can't believe that I'm actually lamenting the fact that one of the world's most recognizable landmarks is no longer going to named after a multinational corporation as a symbol of economic imperialism and power, but still. Its been the Sears Tower since I was a child. It will be missed.

[Belial]

6. Now its going to be named after a London based

multinational corporation..

[Downtown Hound]

7. Uh oh, THE BRITISH ARE COMING!

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!

[Martin Eden]

43. How long before most Chicagoans call it "Willis Tower"?

I'm a lifelong Chicagoan and a White Sox fan, and I know a lot of people who still refer to US Cellular Field as "Comiskey."

I think it will take a very long time before most Chicagoans stop referring to THE WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING as Sears Tower. I say it's the world's tallest building because those uninhabitable spires that top off the towers in Maylasia are not as high as the broadcast towers on top of Sears Tower in Chicago. :smoke:

[murielm99]

45. This won't work.

Everyone will still call it the Sears Tower.

I still say Marshall Field's, not Macy's.

What are they going to do next, rename Wrigley Field? Horrors!

[onehandle]

8. Good luck with that. I predict Chicagoans will kick some ass over this.

And they should.

[mcjackson]

9. more like...

...Wesley Willis Tower.

[nomorenomore08]

14. That's exactly what I thought!

"Rock over London, Rock on Chicago!" And you just know that if Wesley were still alive, he'd totally take this as a compliment, unintentional though it may be.

[aggiesal]

17. How about "Obama Tower" in honor of hometown child ...

making good!

It didn't cost them anything. What could they lose!

[damntexdem]

26. No, don't blame such an ugly construction after the President.

He's too good looking to be saddled with that boxy horror.

[Thothmes]

46. All things considered,

Willis Towers will have to do. It could have been Cho En Lai Towers, or Ibn Saud Al Aziz Towers.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Still not as bad as "Reagan National" though.

:puke:

[aquart]

12. Agreed.

But once Idlewild was renamed for Kennedy, the Republicans couldn't rest till they had one, too.

[dysfunctional press]

11. good luck with that...it will ALWAYS be called the 'sears tower' by the general masses.

the talking news heads may be legally required to refer to it as 'willis tower', but to the hoi polloi- it will remain the sears tower for many years to come.

[BeyondGeography]

24. And the Triboro Bridge will never be called the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge

At least until everyone who was born before 1990 dies.

[Lost in CT]

34. As God as my witness I had no idea they changed the name of the Triboro

and I live here and listen to 1010WINS

[BeyondGeography]

40. Nobody's buying into it

The Triboro is one of those rare bridge names that makes perfect sense...a classic bit of branding overreach by the Kennedy's and their fanbase.

[damntexdem]

27. And I still call National Airport 'National Airport.'

And notice that they had to leave 'National' as part of the name.

[TheCoxwain]

13. Thank god its not called "Willies Tower"

:-)

[XemaSab]

15. I'm opposed to corporate naming of shit

3Com Park, Arco Center, Staples Center, Exxon/Mobil National Wildlife Refuge.

It's stupid. x(

[MessiahRp]

18. Um, what do you think Sears is/was?

This was corporate named from the beginning.

Rp

[XemaSab]

19. I know

I don't think it should have been named after a corporation to begin with.

[dysfunctional press]

31. they paid for it to be built, and it was their corporate headquarters...

what SHOULD it have been called?

[XemaSab]

33. The Monkey Ward?

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

41. the monkey ward's building is on the other side of downtown...

[jobycom]

30. Wrigley Field.

[Doremus]

37. Try Quicken Loans Arena for stupid.

I ROFL whenever I drive by the signs.

When it comes to stadiums and arenas and such, half the time the public pays to build the damned things, then they whore the name out to the highest bidder and we're stuck with using the ridiculous names they come up with.

ETA: At least "Sears Tower" has a little dignity. Quicken Loans Arena? Not so much. LOL

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

47. This doesn't even sound right..."Exxon/Mobil National Wildlife Refuge"

WTF?

[orleans]

16. i get so tired of all these corps changing names of buildings and places

cellular field, lasalle theater (probably bank of america theater now), etc.

what a bunch of shit.

[truebrit71]

20. I don't think that there is one single Chicagoan that will use the 'new' name...

...it will always be "Sears Tower"...

The re-naming of stuff only works on the South-side... Comiskey/Us Cellular/Insert Name Here/ park...'cos no-one gives a shit...try re-naming Wrigley and everyone will get their penny-loafers in a twist about it though....

[sudopod]

21. What you talkin about?

Willis?

[Chulanowa]

22. Oh great, now it's going to explode

Because you can't have something involving Bruce Willis without a building exploding.

Wait... What's that? It's not Bruce Willis?

Well, i bet if it DOES explode, Bruce will still jump out the top floor window, and land with only a sprained ankle.

[Itchinjim]

23. Still is and always will be SEARS Tower to me.

It's like changing the name of Wrigley Field to Cadbury Field

[damntexdem]

25. But it's one tower that doesn't look that much like a willie!

Oh, Willis!

One good thing about going to the top-floor view area of the Sears, oops Willies, Tower is that one gets a view of interesting buildings like the John Hancock (hey, couldn't that be John Willie?) Building, whereas going to the viewing area of the John Hancock gives the view of an ugly, boxy building like the Sears-Willies Tower. Sears-Willis! ;-)

[Sanity Claws]

28. Damn -- I was just going to make a joke along the same line.

You beat me to it!

[Hannah Bell]

32. They keep changing the names of things to disorient the peons & teach them

their city is not their own.

[Kire]

35. Why not "Nakatomi" tower?

or yippee-ki-yay mother effer tower?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

36. Hey, White Sox fans: does anyone call Comisky 'US Cellular Park' or even 'the Cell'?

[Kat45]

39. Before you know it, none of America will be owned by Americans any more.

I know this purchase is far from the first foreign purchase of an American physical asset, but it seems to keep on going and going and...

[ovidsen]

42. I watched it go up. It'll always be the Sears Tower to me.

Just as a certain airport just outside DC will always be National, and buildings in NYC named the RCA building and the Pan Am building will always be just that. No matter what other people "name" it.

BTW, if you want to be labeled a hick tourist (or a dittohead) in DC, just ask a cabbie to take you to "Reagan" (which one?) or "Reagan National".

Tell the driver you need a ride to National, and he (or she) will know you're an old timer.

[Deja Q]

44. As in Bruce Willis?

:hide: