The Willis Tower
Facts
Address | 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606 |
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Bounding streets |
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Neighborhood | The Loop |
Formerly | Sears Tower |
Formerly | The Sears Building |
Built | 1970 - 1974 |
Architecture firm | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill |
Architect | Bruce Graham |
Structural engineer | Fazlur R. Khan |
Cost | $186,000,000 |
Types |
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Floors | 110 |
Missing floor | Level 109. The building owners count the roof as 109. |
Disputed floor | The mechanical penthouse for the elevators. Some buildings count this as a floor, some do not. This building does. |
Height to the tip of the west antenna mast | 1,729 feet |
Height to the tip of the east antenna mast | 1,709 feet |
Height to roof | 1,450 feet, seven inches |
Height to glass observation boxes | 1,353 feet |
Width | 195 feet |
Total floor space | 4,560,000 square feet |
Rentable floor space | 3,800,000 square feet |
Weight | 445,000,000 pounds |
Caissons | 114 |
Elevators | 104 total. 14 are double-decker. |
Observatory elevators speed | 18.2 miles per hour |
Windows | More than 16,100 |
Property size | 2.96 acres |
Parking spaces | 160 |
Plumbing | More than 25 miles |
Electrical lines | More than 1,500 miles |
Elevator cables | More than 80 miles |
Notes
- West Quincy Street was removed to make way for this tower. The developers purchased it from the City of Chicago for $2,767,500.
- The original plan for this building was just 70-stories tall.
- Before construction, models of the this tower with the rest of the city were built and tested in a wind tunnel at the University of Western Ontario.
- The last steel beam put into place in the construction of this building on the 110th floor was signed by over 12,000 Chicagoans.
- The building, itself, does not have a tuned mass dampener, which is common on large skyscrapers. But both of the two large antenna masts has one of its own near the top.
- The building's exterior is black anodized aluminum. The windows are tinted bronze.
- According to the Chicago Sun-Times, in 2005 a deal was in the works for CDW to move to this building, which included naming rights. The deal fell apart because the building's owners didn't want the word “Discount” on the tower.
- The building has an average sway of six inches off center.
- Alain Robert told Vancouver 24 Hrs that this building was his favorite illegal climb.
Timeline
April 6, 1973 | Two women were hit by pieces of falling wood that broke loose from construction work on the 108th floor. |
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May 3, 1973 | This building was topped off, and became the tallest building in the world. A title it would hold for 25 years. |
May 1973 | This building opened to the public. |
1974 | The observation deck opened. |
1981 | Dan Goodwin climbed the outside of this building. |
1989 | This building was sold to AEW for $800,000,000. |
1992 | Sears moved out of this building to the suburbs. |
1997 | This building was sold for $804,000,000 to TrizecHahn. |
1998 | This building illuminated its antenna masts in Christmas colors for the first time. |
1999 | Alain Robert climbed the exterior of this building. |
September 11, 2001 | This building's observation deck was closed after the terrorist attacks the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. |
October 29, 2001 | The observation deck reopened. |
2003 | Sears' naming rights to this building expired. There was no company willing to buy the rights immediately, so the name remained Sears Tower. |
August 2003 | Trizec Properties surrendered the building to MetLife. |
January 15, 2004 | The Chicago Tribune reported that the Sears Tower would be equipped with cellular repeaters. This was to help cell phone users who have a hard time making and receiving calls in the tower because of its structure, and the fact that cell phone users inside the building can be a thousand feet higher than the nearest cell phone tower. |
March 11, 2004 | This building was sold to Jeffrey Feil and Joseph Chetrit by MetLife for $835,000,000. |
September 25, 2005 | An investigation by Emporis determined the actual correct height to the main roof of this building is 1,450 feet, seven inches. |
May 23, 2006 | Seven people were arrested in Miami for allegedly plotting to launch a terrorist attack on this building. |
January 19, 2007 | This building was sold for $385,000,000. |
February 1, 2008 | Several women walking by this building were shocked by electrical currents from the sidewalk. The stray voltage leaked from the system which automatically de-ices the sidewalk when it snows (a common device for large buildings in cold climates). The system was turned off until it could be fixed. |
March 11, 2009 | The Wall Street Journal reported insurance giant The Willis Group was considering consolidating its offices in this building, and if that happened it would be renamed The Willis Tower. |
March 12, 2009 | The Willis Group announced it would move nearly 500 employees to this building in a deal that included renaming the building The Willis Tower. It did not pay extra for the naming rights. |
April 21, 2009 | The Sears Tower signs on this building were temporarily covered by by Willis Tower banners as decisions were made about out how many Willis signs to hang, and where. |
May 1, 2009 | A plan was announced to add a glass-floored outdoor viewing gallery to the observation level. |
June 24, 2009 | A plan was announced to give this building a $350,000,000 environmental facelift. The plan included the possibility wind turbines and greenery on the roofs, replacing all of the building's windows, and changes to the building's mechanical systems to make them more energy efficient. The goal was to reduce the building's energy use by 80%. However, earlier thoughts about painting the building silver were thrown out. |
July 1, 2009 | New Willis Tower signs went up. The Sears Skydeck was renamed Skydeck Chicago. |
July 2, 2009 | The 103rd-floor outboard glass viewing platforms known as “The Ledge” opened to the public. |
July 16, 2009 | In a ceremony, the building name officially changed from Sears Tower to Willis Tower. |
September 2010 | This building was ranked #10 on Chicago Magazine's list of the Top 40 Buildings in Chicago. |
Nearby
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The Unnamed Willis Tower Hotel
253 South Wacker Drive
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318 West Adams
318 West Adams Street
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300 West Adams
300 West Adams Street
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The Northern Trust Center
125 South Wacker Drive
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200 South Wacker
200 South Wacker Drive
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250 South Wacker
250 South Wacker Drive
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Hartford Plaza South
150 South Wacker Drive
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321 South Franklin Street
321 South Franklin
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The Brooks Building
223 West Jackson Boulevard
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311 South Wacker Drive
311 South Wacker Drive