Just call me Willis: Sears Tower now officially renamed
Goodbye, Sears Tower. Today is the first day that the Chicago skyscraper totes its official new name. The turning point for the tallest building in the U.S. was marked this morning with a public ceremony.
The 110-story building is owned by American Landmark Properties of Skokie, Ill., but London-based insurance-brokerage firm Willis Group Holdings “secured the naming rights as part an agreement to lease 140,000 square feet (13,000 sq. meters) of space, and has said it plans to bring hundreds of jobs to the city,” according to the Associated Press.
What’s in a name? In this case, a lot of controversy. There are and have been many adamantly opposed to the W-word. After all, the landmark has been called Sears Tower since its beginnings, in 1973.
“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,” said a Chicago teacher quoted in the AP report.
The photos just above show the building’s signage on March 12, 2009, and then letters covered in black, as seen on July 13, as the sign was being prepared for today’s change.
The Facebook group “People Against the Sears Tower Name Change” has accumulated over 93,000 members and counting, and points people to an “It’s the Sears Tower” petition.
Comments on the Facebook wall call the name-changers all kinds of names, while others seem to regard the move more humorously or nonchalantly. Of course, all over the Web, including on Facebook and Twitter, the varied reactions to the news include repeated choruses of “Whatchoo talkin’ about, Willis?”
- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times
[Top photo: Anna Kane, 5, peers down from the new glass balcony at Sears Tower; June 24. Credit: Kiichiro Sato, Associated Press]
[Middle and bottom photos: The granite marker outside of the building now formerly known as Sears Tower. Credit: Charles Rex Arbogast, Associated Press]
15 Comments on “Just call me Willis: Sears Tower now officially renamed”
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July 16th, 2009 at 11:12 am
What you talkin bout willis?
July 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I think this new name is actually in honor of Gary Coleman’s brother in the 80s TV series Different Strokes.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Chicagos adjust to the changing times………
Willis may not like the result
Sears Tower is fast becoming known as Big Willy or Big Black Willy depending on your tastes :-)
July 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Willis is old news. They should have named it Ashton Kutcher tower.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The Sears Tower housed the headquarters of one of the most dominant world wide retailers of all time. I consider it a landmark name - like, say, the Boston Garden is home of the Celtics an Bruins, no matter how many bank names get put on it.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I was hoping that it was renamed for Wesley Willis. “Rock over London, rock on Chicago!”
July 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Change is inevitable; Brooklyn Dodgers, Soviet Union, etc.. get over it. A rose by any other name and all that…mumbo jumbo. in My opinion certain Mid W peeps need to get some coping skils and broaden perspective.
RL
July 16th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
AC, you rule.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Clearly you underestimate the stubbornness of a Chicagoan. We still go to Wrigley Field for a reason :)
July 16th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
As if naming it Willis Tower isn’t bad enough! I heard they want to paint it silver!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I’ll just keep calling it Sears Tower, as most people probably will. I hope Willis didn’t break the bank expecting name recognition
Check out the picture I took of the new glass ledge, it was truly dizzying.
http://theholstory.blogspot.com/
July 17th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I was not born when the sears tower was built, i was born 21 years later, in 1994. I want to design buildings when i grow up, and the sears tower was my insperation, until yesterday. I may be young, but the sears tower is very important to me, it hurts to see a landmrak be called Willis Tower. I will always call it Sears tower, and i will never, never, call it WILLIS TOWER!!!!
July 17th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I was born in Chicago and in 1979, my dad took me to the Sears Tower, i was amazed to see the views. On July 16, 2009 my favorit building in the world was renamed, the WILLIS TOWER!!, I was very sad, the sadest thing ever, July 16,2009 was my birthday! WIllis Tower, ha, ha!!! There’s no such thing named that, all i see in chicago is the SEARS TOWER!
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I don’t think you Californians really get it…
Things are so commercialized in LA.
You’re a city fueled by Starbucks, Hollister, Calvin Klein, Apple, Etc.
This is a landmark.
This means something to the 2.8 million Chicagoans.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
What I find absolutely hilarious is that only a few months after the new name became official, most people have already forgotten about Willis and simply call the building Sears Tower. And the remainder don’t even have a clue what Willis is.
According to the poll on my site, less than 10% of visitors are even willing to accept the new name.