Chicagoist: Whatchu' Talkin' 'Bout, Willis? Sears Tower Gets New Name

Pengist

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:42:45 -0600

As long as I think of it as the Wesley Willis Tower, I'm fine. Rock over London, Rock on Chicago! Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions!

joshie

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:07:19 -0600

I don't think you read the source article closely enough: "Willis is the largest new tenant to move into Sears Tower since the 2001 terrorist attacks."

WaterCloset

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:21:34 -0600

What's up with the phallic building themes. I mean, we already have a giant dild... Chicago Spire in the plans and now we have 'Big Willy'. Don't forget the giant Millennium Testicle.

BlueFairlane

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:04:17 -0600

I am livid over this. The Sears Tower name has as little to do with Sears as the Wrigley Building or Wrigley Field have to do with bubble gum. Hell, I don't care how many names the old Field Building at 135 S. Lasalle or the big slanted building at 20 S. Dearborn go through, but the Sears Tower is a historical icon, much like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building. The names of historical icons need to be preserved. I suspect this will backfire on the Tower's owners. The Sears Tower name carries a certain gravitas which hasn't meant much in recent years, but will mean a great deal when/if the economy recovers. After many years of decay, the Empire State Building eventually came back to greatness solely due to its name (and a lot of money from Trunp). Meanwhile on the west coast, nobody remembers what to call that big round building in Los Angeles that keeps switching its name. A certain type of tennent will gravitate to the Sears. They won't even think of the Willis.

DiamondDave

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:31:29 -0600

Ernst & Young is leasing 387,000 sq ft of the Sears Tower until 2012 (occupying about 237,000 for itself and subleasing 150,000 to other tenants). That's plenty more space than Willis will occupy.

DiamondDave

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:23:39 -0600

It's not their building. The ownership did not change. Willis signed a lease to rent out a relatively small portion (3.5%) of the Sears Tower. Why the owners threw in naming rights for almost nothing makes no sense to me.

DiamondDave

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:20:26 -0600

Where did the author of this article get information that Willis will be the largest tenant in the Sears Tower? That is not true and makes the name change even more puzzling. The existing tenants cannot be happy that the Sears Tower owners sold out the name so cheaply.

joshie

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:12:52 -0600

Say it ain't so! I don't give a hoot about Sears, but I don't even associate the Tower with the stores. It's just that the building is named the Sears Tower. That is its name. Like the United Center doesn't make me think of United Airlines (except when I'm there and their logo is all over the place). I don't like when icons change their names. I for one have no intention of calling it Willis Tower because these British douches are renting a couple floors at bargain basement prices.

oz115

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:58:31 -0600

I don't think anybody would hold on to the name Sears Tower out of some sense of loyalty. For me, at least, I'm probably going to call it Sears Tower because that's what I've always called it, and I'm too lazy to bother retraining myself to call it by the new name.

Chris F

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:58:22 -0600

I don't think it'll catch on either, and I'm not upset about Sears losing the naming rights, but "the Sears Tower" was a Chicago landmark long before the big Willie went up. I saw some WTTW show that explained that the original hq had a tower, so all the old stores had towers, too- like the one on Lawrence near Damen. Screw Sears, but we are still losing another piece of old Chicago.

cookie66

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:40:25 -0600

check this out. willis! http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagopublicradio/3349589418/?addedcomment=1#comment72157615078210831

Stealth

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:18:08 -0600

If you move into the old Smith residence because they moved out, does everyone still call it the Smith House? Depends. If Ol' Smithy hacked his wife and kids to death in that house, it'll be the spooky Smith house for decades no matter who lives in it. I'm sure kids still drove by "The Amityville Horror House" even though the McGillicuddys lived there afterwards.

tothecurb

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:07:42 -0600

140,000 square feet is only 3.67% of the 3.81 million total rentable space in that building (according to wikipedia), no one tenant uses more space than that? Also, some quick googling came up with ~$29 per square foot as the average price in Chicago as of the end of '08, so, that's like half price too.

chicagodom

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:55:16 -0600

From this day forth I shall call this building "Cloud Gate", because that is its proper name. Right?

ThisGuy

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:34:41 -0600

I am consistently shocked by how "up in arms" Chicagoans get about things that don't mean anything. Seriously...not a big deal. I'll start calling it Willis Tower right now. It's their building. If you move into the old Smith residence because they moved out, does everyone still call it the Smith House?

shameshameboy

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:32:55 -0600

New slogan: You can't beat Big Willie on Wacker.

Mary_Sunshine

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:21:58 -0600

Agreed.

three

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:12:59 -0600

i doubt the name will catch on.

JessNevins

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:44:42 -0600

@Big Willie Oh...

JessNevins

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:44:04 -0600

@Big Willie Oh...

Sears Tower

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:41:27 -0600

Cool. My screen name on Chicagoist makes me all Old School Chicagoan now, giving me additional hipster street cred. I'm not giving up wearing North Face to Beaumont though, some things are too sacred to change.

wallflower

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:40:31 -0600

People will call it whatever they want. Heck... I still know people who refer to the Aon Center as the Standard Oil building. Even I'm guilty of still using "Comiskey" or "Sox Park".

via chicago

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:38:28 -0600

^^ Again, I ask whats sacred about the name of a company which ditched Chicago for a suburban office park 20 years ago and shut down their Loop store during that period). They've showed Chicago ZERO loyalty. And not to mention they will likely go out of business sooner rather than later.

OhPuhleezee

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:35:47 -0600

Big Willie. Thats what I'll call it. In nothing sacred?

via chicago

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:31:55 -0600

Im not nostalgic over the Sears name...their move was a slap in the face to the city while it was going through one of its darker hours. With that said, the buildings owners must REALLY be desperate for tenants if they are giving naming rights away over 140,000 sq feet (thats like what, a couple floors?) at $14 a square foot. For some comparison, Aon averages around $20 sq ft.

JessNevins

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:27:29 -0600

Like how we all call it Cloud Gate? Has anyone ever actually called it "US CELLULAR FIELD"? It's Sears Tower. Will be till it keels over.