The Sears Tower in Chicago has been given a new name.
Since it opened in 1973, it has been the tallest tower in the United States and therefore one of the most famous. It is 110 stories and 1,450 feet high but over the years has acquired some very impressive and attractive antennae that reach to 1,725 feet. For 25 years, the Sears Tower held the title of the world's tallest until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were erected in 1998 and then they were topped in 2004 by Taipei 101 and now Dubai has the tallest tower.
The Sears Tower was designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur R. Khan of the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Sears, Roebuck & Company, then the world's largest retailer. Sears later relocated its office to Hoffman Estates, a Chicago suburb. The tower's design is known as a "bundled tube" and consists of nine 75-foot-square sections at its base.
In 1989 the building was acquired by AEW Capital Management of Boston for about $800 million and then was sold in 1997 to TrizecHahn of Toronto for $804 million but in 2003 it transferred ownership to its lender, MetLife.
In 2004, it was acquired by 233 S. Wacker Drive LLC, a real estate investment group that includes Joseph Chetrit, and Joseph Moinian and Steve Bederman of The Moinian Group, and Yisroel Gluck and John Huston, of American Landmark Properties, Ltd., based in Skokie, Illinois.
Today Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate services firm, announced that it represented Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, in a lease of more than 140,000 square feet in the skyscraper and that its owners will rename it as Willis Tower.
Willis plans to consolidate five area offices and move nearly 500 Associates into Willis Tower, initially occupying more than 140,000 square feet in the 3.9-million-square-foot building.
Cushman & Wakefield brokerage professionals Josh Kuriloff, Vice Chairman, and Kent Ilhardt, Executive Vice President, represented Willis in its site search and lease negotiations. Michael Kazmierczak, Senior Vice President, U.S. Equities, represented the ownership.
Mr. Ilhardt said, "Cushman & Wakefield has had a long history with Sears Tower having acted as project manager for its development and original leasing and management agent. While the building is older, its infrastructure meets or exceeds new construction in many categories. In addition, the highly efficient floor plates, excellent location and numerous amenities will all contribute to Willis' productivity at Willis Tower."
Relocating to Willis Tower will be three current Willis HRH offices in Chicago, located at 10 South LaSalle Street, One East Wacker Drive and 222 North Riverside Plaza, along with two suburban locations - in Oak Brook and Lombard. The move is expected to be completed by late summer.
"Might Sears Tower, the brooding black mountain of the Chicago skyline, turn a shiny silver?" asked Blair Kamin in a February 25, 2009 column in the Chicago Tribune. "Don't count on it, even if such an outlandish move might cut energy costs at the nation's tallest building. Following this morning's Chicago Sun-Times story that the skyscraper's owners are looking at recovering the tower in silver, a Sears Tower spokesman confirms that the owners want to improve the energy performance of the 110-story office building, but adds that 'any details at this point would be speculative,' he continued, adding that he considered that the change of color would be 'ridiculous': Sears is a symbol of Chicago's urban might, not only because of its dark, masculine color but also because its exterior boldly expresses the structural system of 'bundled tubes' that support it. A mirror-glass skin would make this giant look a flimsy as a Dallas office tower."
Don't count on architecture buffs scratching out "Sears"....
Since it opened in 1973, it has been the tallest tower in the United States and therefore one of the most famous. It is 110 stories and 1,450 feet high but over the years has acquired some very impressive and attractive antennae that reach to 1,725 feet. For 25 years, the Sears Tower held the title of the world's tallest until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were erected in 1998 and then they were topped in 2004 by Taipei 101 and now Dubai has the tallest tower.
The Sears Tower was designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur R. Khan of the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Sears, Roebuck & Company, then the world's largest retailer. Sears later relocated its office to Hoffman Estates, a Chicago suburb. The tower's design is known as a "bundled tube" and consists of nine 75-foot-square sections at its base.
In 1989 the building was acquired by AEW Capital Management of Boston for about $800 million and then was sold in 1997 to TrizecHahn of Toronto for $804 million but in 2003 it transferred ownership to its lender, MetLife.
In 2004, it was acquired by 233 S. Wacker Drive LLC, a real estate investment group that includes Joseph Chetrit, and Joseph Moinian and Steve Bederman of The Moinian Group, and Yisroel Gluck and John Huston, of American Landmark Properties, Ltd., based in Skokie, Illinois.
Today Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate services firm, announced that it represented Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, in a lease of more than 140,000 square feet in the skyscraper and that its owners will rename it as Willis Tower.
Willis plans to consolidate five area offices and move nearly 500 Associates into Willis Tower, initially occupying more than 140,000 square feet in the 3.9-million-square-foot building.
Cushman & Wakefield brokerage professionals Josh Kuriloff, Vice Chairman, and Kent Ilhardt, Executive Vice President, represented Willis in its site search and lease negotiations. Michael Kazmierczak, Senior Vice President, U.S. Equities, represented the ownership.
Mr. Ilhardt said, "Cushman & Wakefield has had a long history with Sears Tower having acted as project manager for its development and original leasing and management agent. While the building is older, its infrastructure meets or exceeds new construction in many categories. In addition, the highly efficient floor plates, excellent location and numerous amenities will all contribute to Willis' productivity at Willis Tower."
Relocating to Willis Tower will be three current Willis HRH offices in Chicago, located at 10 South LaSalle Street, One East Wacker Drive and 222 North Riverside Plaza, along with two suburban locations - in Oak Brook and Lombard. The move is expected to be completed by late summer.
"Might Sears Tower, the brooding black mountain of the Chicago skyline, turn a shiny silver?" asked Blair Kamin in a February 25, 2009 column in the Chicago Tribune. "Don't count on it, even if such an outlandish move might cut energy costs at the nation's tallest building. Following this morning's Chicago Sun-Times story that the skyscraper's owners are looking at recovering the tower in silver, a Sears Tower spokesman confirms that the owners want to improve the energy performance of the 110-story office building, but adds that 'any details at this point would be speculative,' he continued, adding that he considered that the change of color would be 'ridiculous': Sears is a symbol of Chicago's urban might, not only because of its dark, masculine color but also because its exterior boldly expresses the structural system of 'bundled tubes' that support it. A mirror-glass skin would make this giant look a flimsy as a Dallas office tower."
Don't count on architecture buffs scratching out "Sears"....
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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