Is nothing sacred anymore?
Well some things probably are, like barbecue on the Fourth of July and the right to bear arms. But apparently the names of famous urban landmarks are not.
After 36 years as The Sears Tower, America’s tallest building officially became Willis Tower today during a naming ceremony in downtown Chicago.
Like the Pan Am building in New York (now called the MetLife building), the 110-story Sears Tower name change occurred as a result of the ever-shifting landscape of corporate America. Sears Roebuck and Company, the tower’s original tenant, has not occupied the building since 1992.
So London-based Willis Group Holdings, which is moving in shortly, asked for naming rights as part of its agreement to lease 140,000 square feet of space in the tower.
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As a goodwill gesture to the city—and presumably in an effort to ease resistance to the name change—Willis Group’s president Joe Plumeri said that the company will donate $100,000 to the city’s Olympic fund and another $100,000 to a local Chicago charity. Plumeri also noted that he will be bringing 500 jobs to the tower in the midst of a recession.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley cheerfully said that he would refer to the tower as “Big Willie,” though not all Chicagoans plan to follow suit. Many have said that they will always think of the skyscraper as the Sears Tower and will continue to call it that.
The name change has also angered people outside of Chicago. A Facebook group called “People Against the Sears Tower Name Change” already has more than 94,000 members from all around the country, and a group of protestors has even started a Web site called ItsTheSearsTower.com.
Unfortunately for the disgruntled, the name change is now considered permanent and there’s no going back. But perhaps they can now focus their efforts on AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of the Giants, which has undergone two name changes since it was first sponsored by AT&T’s predecessor, Pacific Bell, in 2000.
By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.
Related links: Associated Press, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times, BBC, CNN
