Say goodbye to the Sears Tower. Today the new occupants, a British insurance brokerage company, officially renames the landmark skyscraper the Willis Tower. Ouch!When the plan was announced several months ago, protesters circulated a series of petitions, and they're still trying. One Web site, It's The Sears Tower, lets you express your dismay by sending a letter to Willis Group Holdings, Ltd. From the letter:
...the name Willis Tower will remind people of what you have taken away, rather than what you have brought to the city.
Full story from the Associated Press:
What you talkin' bout, Willis? Sears Tower renamed
Skyscraper Pictures:
Photo: Sears Tower in Chicago, USA. Bruce Graham (SOM), Architect.
ŠiStockPhoto.com/Andy Hwang
Comments
Actually Willis Group is a tenant. The owners are the same.
That’s so true! The Willis Group now owns the name, but not the building. And, although the Willis Group is being called the main tenant, they only occupy about 3.5% of the space, according to http://www.searstower.org (an unofficial Web site copyrighted by Randall E. Krause). The building itself is owned by a couple New York real estate investors in partnership with the firm American Landmark Properties Ltd.