The boxes, which can accommodate 5 short tons (4.5 metric tons), opened to the public on July 2, 2009. At one point the team travels through Chicago and the tower is shown (erroneously, since construction did not begin on the tower until two years later in 1971). The western antenna was later extended, bringing the overall height to 1,729 feet (527 m)[1] on June 5, 2000, to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV. As a result of a surplus of office space that emerged in the 1980s, the tower did not draw as many tenants as projected and so stood half-vacant for a decade. 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. When consolidating businesses in Chicago, Willis received the naming rights to Sears Tower which was re-named to Willis Tower. In 2009, the London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased more than 140,000 square feet of office space on three floors of the Sears Tower. Sears asked its outside counsel, Arnstein, Gluck, Weitzenfeld & Minow (now known as Arnstein & Lehr, LLP) to suggest a location. Sears purchased 15 old buildings from 100 owners and paid $2.7 million to the City of Chicago for the portion of Quincy Street the project absorbed. [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]. Willis Tower is owned by Blackstone and managed by EQ Office. This month marked four years since the former Sears Tower was re-christened Willis Tower, and the new name has yet to stick."[71]. A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis, and the building was renamed Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. 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. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as a term of its lease. Morgan Stanley plans to move to the building in 2019 and become its fourth-largest tenant by 2020. A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis and the building was renamed Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. 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. Meanwhile, the Illinois Citizens' Committee for Broadcasting requested the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) halt construction so the building would not interfere with television reception. The building’s naming rights deal, arranged by what the formerly known as Willis Group Holdings, reportedly expires in 2025, but that may change now that the company is acquired by Aon. Each list is ranked by height from the top down. The glass ledges in the Skydeck are on a raised platform 18 inches higher than the rest of the 103rd floor or 1,349 feet, six inches above the Wacker Drive entrance, 1,355 feet, six inches above the Franklin Street entrance and 1,367 feet above lower Wacker Drive/Lower Level 1. 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. NOAA Weather Radio station KWO39 transmits off the tower at 162.550 MHz. The tower retained one record: its antenna exceeded Taipei 101's spire in height. In the 2018 film Rampage, the Energyne corporation is headquartered in the building and uses the tower's antenna to broadcast an echolocation signal that would attract three mutated monsters. Willis Tower and Skydeck Chicago have implemented measures consistent with CDC and local and federal guidance to try to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on the premises, including enhanced cleaning protocols. On August 13, 2012, United Airlines announced it would move its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive to Willis Tower. 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. [13] All nine tubes would rise up to the 50th floor of the building, where the northwest and southeast tubes terminate. [53] Of these, Petronas was the tallest in the category of height to the top of architectural elements, meaning spires but not antennas. 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. Until 2000, the tower did not hold the record for being the tallest building by pinnacle height. [70] The naming rights issue continued into 2013, when Eric Zorn noted in the Chicago Tribune that "We're stubborn about such things. Some 1.7 million tourists visit annually. These projections were not met, with the tower facing the same vacancy and other problems it saw under Sears, although Trizec made somewhat successful efforts to attract new tenants. Goodwin stated that the reason he made the climb was to call attention to shortcomings in high-rise rescue and firefighting techniques. Currently, the Willis Tower's naming rights expire in 2024, but the companies expect the deal to close in 2021, pending shareholder approval. View down to South Wacker Drive from the Skydeck, A ground-level view of the multiple balconies at Willis Tower Skydeck, View of Willis Tower from John Hancock Center, The Eisenhower Expressway and Jane Byrne Interchange (looking west from Willis Tower), Three glass bottom skyboxes (top right) on the west façade of Willis Tower at the 103rd floor. Even though regulations did not require a fire sprinkler system, the building was equipped with one from the beginning. A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis[62][63][64] and the building was renamed Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. With a pinnacle height of 1,729 feet (527 m), it is the third-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, 86 feet (26.2 m) shorter than Toronto's CN Tower. These projections were not met, with the tower facing the same vacancy and other problems it saw under Sears, although Trizec made somewhat successful efforts to attract new tenants. Tourists can experience how the building sways in wind and see far over the plains of Illinois and across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin in clear conditions. The name of the tower is officiall changed from Sears Tower to Willis Tower. As the maturation of the mortgage approached, Sears renegotiated the loan in 1994. 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. With a pinnacle height of 1,729 feet (527 m), it is the third-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, 86 feet (26.2 m) shorter than Toronto's CN Tower. Radio and … The structure was completed in May 1973. 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. 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.
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