Eastwood Mall is an indoor shopping center in Niles, Ohio , United States, serving the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area . It is owned by the Cafaro Company . Its anchor stores are Boscov's , JCPenney , Macy's , and Target . The mall contains over 100 stores and restaurants across 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m) of space. The mall is part of the greater Eastwood Mall Complex, which includes a variety of outdoor strip plazas totaling in over 3,200,000 square feet (300,000 m) of shopping space.
136-520: Eastwood Mall opened in 1969 with Sears , Strouss , Montgomery Ward , and Woolworth as anchors. It was the first mall to feature both Montgomery Ward and Sears. The JCPenney wing was added in 1979. Montgomery Ward closed in 1984, and its building was split among Gold's Gym (now a local gym), Toys "R" Us , and Carlisle's. On May 31st, 1985, the Eastwood Mall was struck by an F5 tornado. After Carlisle's closed in 1994 and Toys "R" Us moved to
272-558: A Residence Inn by Marriott in the Dillard's wing. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill opened next to the store later that year on December 10. On August 24, 2016, Dillard's was initially closed, but later reopened as a Dillard’s Clearance Outlet. In late 2016, the Cafaro Company added a new wing for their corporate offices and an event center, along with a new Hampton Inn & Suites. Coinciding with these, in 2017, additional renovation of
408-736: A labor strike . The next month, Sears formally announced plans for broadcast antennas on the tower's roof, and the company offered to spend $ 5 million (equivalent to $ 36.4 million in 2023) to help relocate broadcast stations to the Sears Tower. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the FCC's decision in September, and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of
544-412: A "special committee" to explore the sale of Kenmore. On September 24, 2018, the retailer's CEO warned that the company was "running out of time" to salvage its business. Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, ahead of a $ 134 million debt payment due that day. On November 23, 2018, Sears Holdings released a list of 505 stores, including 266 Sears stores, that were for sale in
680-528: A $ 500 million renovation in January 2017, which would include the construction of the Catalog, a six-story commercial complex, replacing a plaza on Jackson Boulevard and the entrance on Wacker Drive. Architectural firm Gensler designed the renovation. A rooftop terrace was built atop the Catalog, and the building's HVAC systems were overhauled. Most of the building's elevators, excluding those that served
816-531: A 1,200-seat cafeteria, commercial space, service areas, and a loading dock for 17 trucks. The basement also contained a 150-spot parking garage. As of 2022 , the building's base covers 463,000 square feet (43,000 m ) and contains two lobbies for tenants. The building's tenants primarily enter from Wacker Drive and Franklin Street. Shoppers, restaurant patrons, and visitors to the Skydeck observation deck use
952-781: A coming of age, financially, of the consumer sector. The company traded under the ticker symbol S and was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1924 to 1999. In 1906, Sears opened its catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower in Chicago's West Side . The building was the anchor of what would become the massive 40-acre (16 ha) Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex of offices, laboratories, and mail-order operations at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street. The complex served as corporate headquarters until 1973 when
1088-412: A concrete floor every day. Contractors built two temporary kitchens on the site for workers, and telephone and loudspeaker systems were installed on every floor to allow workers to communicate. In addition, contractors installed temporary generators that could supply up to 14,000 kilowatts (19,000 hp) simultaneously; during the winter, most of this electricity was used to heat the exposed steel beams on
1224-401: A farm household could desire. Sales continued to proliferate, and the prosperity of the company and their vision for more significant expansion led Sears and Rosenwald to take the company public in 1906, with a stock placement of $ 40 million ($ 1.4 billion today). They had to incorporate a new company to bring the operation public; Sears and Rosenwald established Sears, Roebuck and Company with
1360-448: A footbridge, which would respectively contain 50,000 square feet (4,600 m ) and 30,000 square feet (2,800 m ) on each floor, but this was also infeasible. Some floors were designed with smaller footprints to attract prospective lessees, so the building's height was increased to meet Sears's floor-area requirements. Architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan , both of whom were partners with SOM, proposed
1496-628: A new antenna, although eight of Chicago's ten television stations criticized the plan. On May 17, 1972, Judge LaVerne Dickson, Chief of the Lake County Circuit Court , dismissed the suit, saying, "I find nothing that gives television viewers the right to reception without interference." By then, the building had reached the 58th story. The Lake County attorney appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court . In his decision on June 12, Judge Charles R. Barrett contended
SECTION 10
#17327835742801632-470: A new concept store called Sears Grand. Sears Grand stores carried everything that a regular Sears carries, and more. Sears Grand stores were about 175,000 to 225,000 square feet (16,300 to 20,900 m ). On November 17, 2004, Kmart Holdings Corporation announced it would acquire Sears, Roebuck, and Co. for $ 11 billion after Kmart completed its recovery from bankruptcy. As a part of the acquisition, Kmart Holding Corporation, along with Sears, Roebuck, and Co.,
1768-548: A new mail-order firm, again selling watches and jewelry, with Roebuck as his partner, operating as the A. C. Roebuck watch company. On September 16, 1893, they renamed the company Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and began to diversify the product lines offered in their catalogs. Before the Sears catalog, farmers near small rural towns usually purchased supplies, often at high prices and on credit, from local general stores with narrow selections of goods. Prices were negotiated and relied on
1904-470: A new store, those spaces both became Dillard's . Target was added onto the mall in 2000. Strouss became Kaufmann's in 1986, and Macy's in 2006. A food court was added near Macy's in 2006, in conjunction with interior and brand renovations. Kahunaville, which opened at the mall in 1996, closed in March 2007. In late 2007, a three-tank aquarium was added to center court. In 2012, construction began on
2040-466: A publicity role. Sears offered Roebuck's half of the company to Chicago businessman Aaron Nusbaum , who in turn brought in his brother-in-law Julius Rosenwald , to whom Sears owed money. In August 1895, they bought Roebuck's half of the company for $ 75,000 ($ 2.7 million today), and that month the company was reincorporated in Illinois with a capital stock of $ 150,000 ($ 5.5 million today). The transaction
2176-401: A result, the foundation was excavated using 201 caissons , of which 114 reached the underlying limestone. The caissons created holes that measured up to 10 feet (3.0 m) across. Some holes at the northwestern and northeastern corners of the site filled up with groundwater and had to be drained. Workers next placed steel tubes into the holes, then poured concrete around the tubes. During
2312-507: A taller antenna. Although the Sears Tower would contain 4.4 million square feet (410,000 m ) of space, only about 3.7 million square feet (340,000 m ) would be used as offices. Work on the building's foundation commenced in August 1970. Contractors excavated the lot to a depth of 50 feet (15 m), and they removed 180,000 cubic feet (5,100 m ) of dirt from the site. By that November, Spencer, White & Prentis Inc.
2448-492: A tower with 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m ) floors in the lower part of the building, as well as a series of setbacks with gradually tapering floor plates, giving the tower its distinctive look. During the design process, one of the architects reportedly pulled out nine cigars and staggered them vertically until the pair both agreed to the arrangement. This allowed Sears to occupy the large lower stories, while providing more conventional office space that could be rented out on
2584-462: Is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald , with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago . Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. In 2005, the company
2720-498: Is envisioned as a mixed-use development that will include residential buildings along with office space for medical, educational, research, health care and other commercial activities. The Eastwood Mall reported 3,200,000 square feet (300,000 m) of gross leasable space to the International Council of Shopping Centers in 2007, which included it in the list of largest shopping malls in the United States . However,
2856-419: The 23rd-tallest in the world . Each year, more than 1.7 million people visit the Skydeck observation deck, the highest in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. The building occupies a site bounded by Franklin Street, Jackson Boulevard , Wacker Drive , and Adams Street. Graham and Khan designed the building as nine square " tubes ", clustered in a 3×3 matrix; seven of
SECTION 20
#17327835742802992-657: The COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago . In April 2023, The New York Times reported that Blackstone had written down the value of its investment in the tower by $ 119 million. In June 2006, seven men were arrested by the FBI and charged with plotting to destroy the tower. Deputy FBI Director John Pistole described their plot as "more aspirational than operational". The case went to court in October 2007. After three trials, five of
3128-505: The Chicago Tribune , the top of the building would be able to bend by as much as 7 inches (180 mm), returning to its normal position within 7.2 seconds. The Willis Tower's basement extends 50 feet (15 m) deep, resting on a 5-foot-thick (1.5 m) concrete slab. The ground directly beneath the building was largely made of clay; the underlying layer of limestone was as much as 100 feet (30 m) beneath ground level. As
3264-547: The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico . In 1997, Sears sold 85% of its Mexico affiliate to Grupo Carso . Sears Holdings continued to produce specialty catalogs and reintroduced a smaller version of the Holiday Wish Book in 2007. In 2003, Sears sold its U.S. retail credit card operation to Citibank . The remaining card operations for Sears Canada were sold to JPMorgan Chase in August 2005. In 2003, Sears opened
3400-489: The Directory of Major Malls reports that less than 1.6 million of gross leasable space are enclosed within the mall property itself, disqualifying it from the list. The greater square footage included a separate strip mall, big-box stores and restaurants within the complex adjacent to the enclosed mall structure. Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. , commonly known as Sears ( / s ɪər z / SEERZ ),
3536-919: The Discover credit card in 1985. However, these actions have been said to have distracted management's attention from the core retail business and allowed competing retailers to gain significant ground, culminating with Walmart surpassing Sears as the largest retailer in the United States in 1990. In the 1990s, the company began divesting itself of many non-retail entities, which were detrimental to its bottom line. Sears spun off its financial services arm, which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. It sold its mall building subsidiary Homart to General Growth Properties in 1995. Sears later acquired hardware chain Orchard Supply Hardware in 1996 and started home improvement store The Great Indoors in 1997. The cost of distributing
3672-689: The Sears Archer 600 typewriter as a rebranded Silverette model, manufactured by Silver Seiko Ltd. of Japan. The success of Sears outdoor products raised the attention of the Federal Government and the antitrust laws. Sears purchased David Bradley to manufacture farm and lawn equipment. Its success was broken up in 1962 as they sold more plows than John Deere. Sears sold half of the David Bradley factory in Bradley, Illinois to
3808-495: The Sears Tower was completed and served as the base of the mail-order catalog business until 1995. By 1907, under Rosenwald's leadership as vice president and treasurer, annual sales of the company climbed to roughly $ 50 million ($ 1.6 billion today). Sears resigned from the presidency in 1908 due to declining health, with Rosenwald named president and chairman of the board and taking on full control. In 1910, Sears acquired
3944-603: The Sears Tower , is a 110- story , 1,451-foot (442.3 m) skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois , United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building , a title that it held for nearly 25 years. It is the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, as well as
4080-476: The government of Chicago $ 2.7 million (equivalent to $ 21.2 million in 2023) for the block of Quincy Street that was to be closed down. Sears executives estimated that their new building would need about 4.2 million square feet (390,000 m ), split into 70 stories with 60,000 square feet (5,600 m ) each or 60 stories with 70,000 square feet (6,500 m ) each. Sears commissioned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design
4216-533: The 1920s to the 1950s, Sears built many urban department stores in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (apart from, but not far from, existing central business districts ), and they overshadowed the mail-order business. Following World War II, the company expanded into suburban markets and malls. In 1959, it had formed the Homart Development Company for developing malls. Many of the company's stores have undergone major renovations or replacements since
Eastwood Mall - Misplaced Pages Continue
4352-424: The 1980s, the tower did not draw as many tenants as projected and so stood half-vacant for a decade. In February 1984, Sears announced that it would renovate the building to attract visitors to the lower floors. At the time, 6,500 Sears employees occupied more than half of the building, taking up the lowest 48 stories. The remainder of the tower was occupied by 5,500 employees from about 70 companies. As part of
4488-460: The 1980s. Sears began to diversify in the 1930s, creating Allstate Insurance Company in 1931 and placing Allstate representatives in its stores in 1934 (Allstate was also used as a house brand on a range of motorized vehicles sold by Sears). Over the decades, it established major national brands, such as Kenmore , Craftsman , DieHard , Silvertone , Supertone , and Toughskins — and marketed widely under its private labels , e.g., marketing
4624-408: The 33rd floor. During a fire, elevators would be dispatched to the affected floors to assist with evacuation. The building also had 16 escalators, including a set of double-height escalators that traveled from the main lobby to the lower mezzanine. Another set of escalators connects the 33rd and 34th stories. When the building was completed, the main entrance was on Wacker Drive to the west. There
4760-539: The 66th and 67th stories opened in June 2018. The club included a restaurant named Craftsman and a lounge named Frame, both of which exclusively served the tower's tenants, as well as a public restaurant known as the East Room. That September, Urbanspace announced that it would operate a food hall on the lower stories. In 2020, insurance company Aon had proposed acquiring Willis Towers Watson (which had succeeded
4896-480: The 77th floor, while the steel superstructure had reached the 84th floor; the remainder of the steelwork would be difficult to construct because of high winds at higher altitudes. Local television stations WTTW and WLS-TV were planning to install temporary broadcast antennas atop the tower when the steel frame was completed. The tower's superstructure had reached the 100th floor in February 1973, at which point it
5032-474: The Casal Aveda Institute, opened on July 14, 2020 in the former Kahunaville space. Dillard's closed its clearance outlet store at the mall in June 2024. The Cafaro Company has been seeking investors to embark on the deforestation of an adjacent natural wetland totaling 105 acres, which would be named Enterprise Park at Eastwood. This new tract that will be connected to the existing mall property
5168-764: The David Bradley Plow company. This acquisition would lead to the manufacturing of riding mowers, chainsaws, tillers, etc., in the Bradley Illinois factory. The company was badly hurt during 1919–21 as a severe depression hit the nation's farms after farmers had over-expanded their holdings. To bail out the company, Rosenwald pledged $ 21 million ($ 358.7 million today) of his personal wealth in 1921. By 1922, Sears regained financial stability. Rosenwald decided to shift emphasis to urban America and brought in Robert E. Wood to take charge. Rosenwald oversaw
5304-671: The Illinois Citizens' Committee for Broadcasting filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in February 1972. The first lawsuit against the building was filed by the state attorney in neighboring Lake County on March 17, 1972. A second suit was filed on March 28 in Cook County Circuit Court by the villages of Skokie , Northbrook , and Deerfield, Illinois . Sears filed motions to dismiss
5440-502: The Lake and Cook County lawsuits, which both sought to cap the building at 67 stories. Sears studied the possibility of erecting antennas atop its tower in April 1972, and the tower's construction continued, even as decisions on both lawsuits were delayed. At the end of the month, the company applied for permission to increase the building's height limit by 350 feet (110 m) and install
5576-599: The Newark Ohio Company that was shortly acquired by Roper Industries. Sears reached its pinnacle in the 1970s. In 1974, Sears completed the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, which became the world's tallest building , a title it took from the former Twin Towers in New York. Upon moving out of Chicago, Sears sold the Sears Tower in 1988. In the sale contract of the tower, Sears retained its naming rights to
Eastwood Mall - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-733: The Prairie Stone campus. The Sears catalog became known in the industry as "the Consumers' Bible". The company began selling to foreign customers after the American occupation of Greenland in World War II and the Philippines, among others, when locals ordered from catalogs left by soldiers. Novelists and story writers often portrayed the importance of the catalog in the emotional lives of rural folk. The catalog also entered
5848-440: The R.W. Sears Watch Company. That year, he met Alvah Curtis Roebuck , a watch repairman. In 1887, Sears and Roebuck relocated the business to Chicago, and the company published Richard Sears's first mail-order catalog, offering watches, diamonds, and jewelry. In 1889, Sears sold his business for $ 100,000 ($ 3 million in 2021 dollars) and relocated to Iowa, planning to be a rural banker. He returned to Chicago in 1892 and established
5984-584: The Sears Essentials format, only to change them later to Sears Grands. The combined company's profits peaked at $ 1.5 billion in 2006. By 2010, the company was no longer profitable; from 2011 to 2016, the company lost $ 10.4 billion. In 2014, its total debt ($ 4.2 billion at the end of January 2017) exceeded its market capitalization ($ 974.1 million as of March 21, 2017). Sears declined from more than 3,500 physical stores to 695 U.S. stores from 2010 to 2017. Sales at Sears stores dropped 10.3 percent in
6120-798: The Sears Tower was the world's tallest building but not the world's tallest structure. Toronto's CN Tower was about 350 feet (106.7 m) taller, although the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) does not consider the CN Tower to be a building, since it does not have floors from the ground up . The Willis Tower remains the third tallest building in the Americas and in the Western Hemisphere (after One World Trade Center and Central Park Tower in New York City). With
6256-429: The Sears Tower would cause much more interference than either Sears or the television stations had disclosed. WLS-TV moved to the Sears Tower in February 1974, followed by WTTW the next month. By March 1974, three-fourths of the space in the building was occupied; Sears had leased the upper stories to tenants such as Goldman Sachs , Northwest Industries , and Schiff Hardin . A mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder
6392-506: The Sears Tower would quickly reach a value of $ 1 billion. 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. Following the September 11 attacks , two of the largest tenants, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, immediately announced plans for vacating 300,000 ft of space. In 2003, Trizec sold its holdings of
6528-437: The Sears Tower's construction, SOM and Chicago government officials considered adding "smoke free and fire free" areas to the building, as well as a complete sprinkler system serving all floors. Neither of these features had previously been used in a structure in Chicago. Even though regulations did not require a fire sprinkler system, the building was equipped with one from the beginning. There are around 40,000 sprinkler heads in
6664-414: The Sears Tower's owners obtained a $ 780 million loan from UBS . At the time, UBS valued the tower at $ 1.2 billion. Since 2007, the owners had considered plans for the construction of a hotel on the north side of Jackson Boulevard, between Wacker Drive and Franklin Street, close to the entrance of the observation deck, above the tower's underground parking garage. According to the tower's owners,
6800-531: The Seventh Circuit's decision that November. In November 1972, the Sears Tower became Chicago's tallest building, surpassing the Standard Oil Building , which had held the record for one month. At the time, the Sears project employed 1,600 workers in three shifts; one worker had been killed during the project so far. The building's final completion had been delayed significantly due to labor strikes and bad weather. The concrete work had reached
6936-424: The Skydeck, opened on June 22, 1974. Located on the 103rd floor, 1,353 feet (412.4 m) above ground level, it is the highest observation deck in the United States and one of Chicago's most famous tourist attractions. 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. Elevators reach
SECTION 50
#17327835742807072-482: The Skydeck, were also renovated for the first time in the tower's history. The new elevators would be faster than the original elevators and would use use 35 percent less energy. The building's owners installed artwork by Olafur Eliasson , Jacob Hashimoto , and other artists. To fund these improvements, in February 2017, Blackstone obtained a $ 1 billion loan from a group of banks including Goldman Sachs . The new loan replaced $ 750 million of CMBS debt that
7208-717: The Willis Group as the building's owner), prompting speculation that the building could be renamed again. The planned merger was canceled in 2021 following an antitrust lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice . The building's renovation was completed in May 2022. At the time, although the Willis Tower was nearly 85 percent leased, the number of tenants and visitors entering the building had decreased significantly since 2019, in part because of
7344-542: The annex contains an artwork by Olafur Eliasson, entitled Atmospheric wave wall . The work, measuring 30 by 60 feet (9.1 by 18.3 m) across, comprises almost 2,000 blue-and-green steel tiles, which are decorated with hexagonal motifs. The wall is backlit at night. The interior includes 74,000 short tons (66,000 long tons; 67,000 t) of steel, 4 million pounds (1.8 kt) of aluminum, and 101 acres (4,400,000 sq ft; 410,000 m ) of concrete flooring. The building contains diagonal columns only on
7480-537: The applicable law, then offered Sears two options. The first option was the Goose Island area northwest of the Loop, but Sears's vice president of real estate, Matthew J. Stacom, rejected this proposal. The other was a two-block area in the Loop, bounded by Franklin Street on the east, Jackson Boulevard on the south, Wacker Drive on the west, and Adams Street on the north. Though the site was more centrally located, it
7616-519: The area's minimum safe altitude would need to be raised by 1,000 feet (300 m) if the building was just 1 foot (0.30 m) taller. Plans for the tower were announced on July 27, 1970. The 1,450-foot-tall (440 m) building would contain 109 stories as measured from Wacker Drive and 110 stories as measured from Franklin Street. This would make Sears's new tower the tallest in the world, as measured by roof height, although New York City's under-construction World Trade Center Twin Towers would have
7752-519: The bankruptcy process, while all others would hold liquidation sales. On January 16, 2019, Sears Holdings announced it would remain open after Lampert won a bankruptcy auction for the company with an offer to keep about 400 stores open. On February 7, 2019, a bankruptcy judge approved a $ 5.2 billion plan by Sears's chairman and biggest shareholder to keep the business going. The approval meant roughly 425 stores, including 223 Sears stores, and 45,000 jobs would be preserved. In April 2019, Sears announced
7888-400: The brand's huge popularity helped attract customers. Sears retail stores were pioneering and broke the conventions of the time in three ways: Many stores at this time were designed by architect George C. Nimmons and his firms. The architecture was driven by merchandising needs rather than the desired outer appearance. This made the stores excellent examples of the modern architecture of
8024-419: The building continued to be called the Sears Tower for several years, despite multiple changes in ownership. In March 2009, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building and obtained the naming rights. On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed the Willis Tower. By 2011, the building's owners were considering selling a partial ownership stake, or even
8160-483: The building until 2003, but the Sears Tower retained the name until early 2009, when London-based insurer Willis Group Holdings, Ltd. was given the building's naming rights to encourage them to occupy the building. Sears moved to the new Prairie Stone Business Park in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, between 1993 and 1995. The Sears Centre is a 10,001-seat multi-purpose arena located in Hoffman Estates adjacent to
8296-399: The building's facade. Black bands appear on the tower around the 29th–32nd, 64th–65th, 88th–89th, and 104th–108th floors. These elements are louvers to ventilate the building's environmental support systems and obscure its belted trusses . The rest of the facade is made of 16,000 rectangular windows. all of which measure 5 by 8 feet (1.5 by 2.4 m) and are tinted with bronze. Outside
SECTION 60
#17327835742808432-409: The building's fourth-largest tenant in 2017. Sears, Roebuck & Co. had occupied an office complex on Chicago's west side since 1906. The existing offices were inadequate by 1966, prompting Sears executives to begin searching for a new site. By 1969, Sears was the largest retailer in the world, with about 350,000 employees. Sears executives quickly determined that a new headquarters complex in
8568-408: The building, installed at a cost of $ 4 million. When it was completed, the Sears Tower was heated electrically, unlike older structures that used gas heating. It included 145,000 light fixtures and a cooling system capable of 17,000 tons of refrigeration. Furthermore, the tower contained fire-suppression and communications systems for emergency use, which were powered by diesel generators. If there
8704-424: The building, there was originally a 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m ) plaza made of pink granite. In the late 2010s, a three-level wing was built along the western and southern sides of the tower replacing the plaza. The roof garden above the annex spans 30,000 square feet (2,800 m ). The annex contains a facade of black steel and aluminum, similar to in the original building. The Jackson Boulevard facade of
8840-481: The building, while AEW and MetLife effectively had total control. As part of the 1994 agreement, AEW and MetLife would be able to take official ownership of the building in 2003. In 1997, Toronto-based TrizecHahn , at the time the lessee of the CN Tower , acquired AEW's holdings in the building for $ 110 million, assuming $ 4 million in liabilities and a $ 734 million mortgage. Trizec had projected that
8976-461: The building. This also resulted in many TV and radio stations going off the air. The Willis Tower was designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Graham and Khan designed the building as nine square " tubes ", clustered in a 3×3 matrix forming a square base with 225-foot (69 m) sides. The building's rentable area is 3,810,000 sq ft (354,000 m ). The structure
9112-402: The ceremony, four workers died after an elevator shaft caught fire. A fifth worker died after falling from the tower in an unrelated incident four days later. Work was halted again that June due to a labor strike, and Sears began moving furniture into the building that month. The construction cost was about US$ 150 million, (equivalent to $ 1.03 billion in 2023). Despite the size of
9248-666: The company announced that Transform Holdco would acquire Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores . As per deal, it might need to divest its Sears Outlet division to gain approval. On August 6, 2019, it was announced that 26 stores would close that October, including 21 Sears stores, among them the last Sears stores in Alabama and West Virginia , at Riverchase Galleria in Hoover and at Huntington Mall in Barboursville , respectively. The announcement also included plans to "accelerate
9384-417: The company was looking to focus on becoming a more tech-driven retailer. Sears's CEO and top shareholder said the sell-off of key assets in the last year had given the retailer the money it needs to speed up its transformation. Sears Holdings had lost a total of US$ 7 billion in the four years to 2015. In part, the retailer was trying to curb losses by using a loyalty program called Shop Your Way. Sears believed
9520-507: The current Ford line ]). By 1895, the company was producing a 532-page catalog. Sales were over $ 400,000 ($ 12 million in 2021 dollars) in 1893 and over $ 750,000 ($ 20 million in 2021 dollars) two years later. By 1896, dolls, stoves, and groceries were added to the catalog. Despite the strong and growing sales, the national Panic of 1893 led to a full-scale economic depression , causing a cash squeeze and large quantities of unsold merchandise by 1895. Roebuck decided to quit, returning later in
9656-520: The design and construction of the firm's first department store, built on land within the Sears, Roebuck, and Company Complex. The store opened in 1925. In 1924, Rosenwald resigned the presidency but remained as chair until he died in 1932; his goal was to devote more time to philanthropy. The first store opened on February 2, 1925, as an experiment in the North Lawndale Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex . Despite its remote location on
9792-521: The entire building, to an investor. The next year, United Airlines announced it would move its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive to the Willis Tower. By March 2015, the Willis Tower was being marketed at a price of $ 1.5 billion. The same month, the Blackstone Group purchased the tower for a reported $ 1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a property in the U.S. outside of New York City. Blackstone announced
9928-677: The expansion of our smaller store formats which includes opening additional Home & Life stores and adding several hundred Sears Hometown stores after the Sears Hometown and Outlet transaction closes." On August 31, 2019, management announced that Transform would close an additional 92 stores, including 15 Sears stores, by the end of 2019. Near the end of 2019, Sears sold the brand name DieHard to Advance Auto Parts for $ 200 million. A total of 100 more stores closed by January 2020. 51 Sears stores were closed in February 2020. More stores continued to close throughout 2020 and 2021, including
10064-588: The family fortune in a speculative stock deal. Sears moved across the state to work as a railroad station agent in North Redwood , then Minneapolis . While he was in North Redwood, a jeweler refused delivery on a shipment of watches. Sears purchased them and sold them at a low price to the station agents, making a profit. He started a mail-order watch business in Minneapolis in 1886, calling it
10200-690: The final Sears in Maine at The Maine Mall. In September 2021, the company's website listed 35 Sears stores. That month, Sears announced that it would close more stores, including the last Sears store in New York City. The New York City Sears closed by November 24, 2021, with the potential to be redeveloped. Transformco announced in December 2021 its plans to sell the 2.3 million-square-foot Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates, which includes 100 acres of undeveloped land. On January 19, 2022, Sears shut
10336-530: The final quarter of 2016 when compared to the same period in 2015. Sears spent much of 2014 and 2015 selling off portions of its balance sheet; namely, Lands' End and its stake in Sears Canada , one of the biggest e-commerce players in Canada, with Can$ 505 million in sales in 2015—more than Walmart and others who had begun pushing aggressively into online sales, such as Canadian Tire . Sears stated that
10472-470: The firm to stay. Just two years later, Sears began moving its own offices out of the building to a new campus in Hoffman Estates, Illinois , which was completed in 1995. As the maturation of the mortgage approached, Sears renegotiated the loan in 1994. The negotiations resulted in an agreement where Sears would no longer be liable for the $ 850 million loan, although it would only nominally own
10608-1050: The first of its Christmas catalogs known as the " Sears Wishbook ", a catalog featuring toys and gifts, separate from the annual Christmas Catalog. From 1908 to 1940, it included ready-to-assemble Sears Catalog Home kit houses. Sears opened a small store in Downtown Havana , Cuba in 1942. Sears opened its first store in Mexico City in 1947; the Mexican stores would later spin off into Sears Mexico , now owned by billionaire Carlos Slim 's Grupo Sanborns , which in 2020 operated more than 75 stores across Mexico. Sears had sales of US$ 78 million in other territories in 1953. Over time, Sears expanded into all Central American countries, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Spain. Currently Sears operates in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. From
10744-439: The language, particularly of rural dwellers, as a euphemism for toilet paper, as its pages could be torn out and used as such. In addition, for many rural African-Americans, especially in areas dominated by Jim Crow racial segregation , the Sears catalog was a vital retail alternative to local white-population-dominated stores, bypassing the stores' frequent intention to deny them fair access to their merchandise. However, as
10880-419: The legal name Sears, Roebuck and Co. , in the state of New York, which effectively replaced the original company. The current company inherits the history of the old company, celebrating the original 1892 incorporation, rather than the 1906 revision, as the start of the company. Sears's successful 1906 initial public offering (IPO) marks the first major retail IPO in American financial history and represented
11016-462: The liquidation of the 115 largely owner-operated Hometown stores. As of November 2024, there are nine Sears stores remaining, with eight in the mainland U.S. and one location in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Richard Warren Sears was born in 1863 in Stewartville, Minnesota , to a wealthy family which moved to nearby Spring Valley . In 1879, his father died shortly after losing
11152-419: The lobby of the Willis Tower. The commercial complex at the building's lowest stories is known as the Catalog, a reference to Sears' mail-order catalogs . The six-story complex includes numerous restaurants. It extends into three of the building's basement levels, as well as the three-story annex to the south and west of the tower. The roof of the annex includes a curved skylight with 240 glass panes, and
11288-480: The lobby to the Skydeck on the 103rd floor. As of 2018 , the elevators carried 5.8 million passengers per year. Six of the elevators are used for freight. One of the freight elevators served all stories, traveling to a height of 1,440 feet (440 m). During a fire or another emergency, this elevator would be reserved for the Chicago Fire Department . Other elevators would be controlled from
11424-434: The lower half of the building until tenants were found for these stories. Four large firms were negotiating to buy the tower by July 1989. The company had difficulties finding a buyer, in part because the lower stories were too large for many potential tenants. Sears nearly sold the tower to Canadian company Olympia & York , but the deal was canceled in September 1989 because the two firms could not agree on who would pay
11560-412: The lowest five floors. By late 1971, Chicagoland residents and broadcasters had raised concerns that the new Sears Tower would disrupt television broadcasts. According to one estimate, the building would obstruct television signals for 15 percent of Chicagoans and cause "double images" for another 20 percent, primarily affecting communities to the northwest and southeast. The same year, officials of
11696-482: The mall's entrance features and interior occurred. On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide. In 2019, Nickels and Dimes announced that it will close the Tilt Studio location at the mall by December 2019. In 2020, Boscov's announced plans to open a store in the former Sears and Tilt Studio. It opened on October 7, 2021. A cosmetology school,
11832-572: The membership scheme would enhance repeat business and customer loyalty in the long term. CEO Eddie Lampert also concluded an arrangement that sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. for approximately US$ 900 million. In October 2017, Sears and appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corporation ended their 101-year-old association, reportedly due to pricing issues, although Whirlpool continued supplying Sears with Kenmore -branded appliances. In May 2018, Sears announced it had formed
11968-404: The nation urbanized, Sears's catalog business faced competition from city department stores. Rural America's population was slow-growing and possessed far less spending power than urban America. In the 1980s, the company began to diversify into non-retail entities such as buying Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker in 1981. In 1984, it launched Prodigy as a joint venture with IBM , and introduced
12104-484: The new atrium "relieves the formerly cramped feeling from just inside the Franklin entrance". Sears announced in 1988 that it would sell the tower and relocate its merchandising division from the lower half of the building. The company wanted to earn at least $ 1 billion from the sale of the Sears Tower, so it offered multiple concessions to potential buyers, including a guarantee that Sears would continue to pay rent on
12240-415: The northeast and southwest tubes end. From the 67th to 90th floors, each story is shaped like a cross, covering 30,170 square feet (2,803 m ). The north, east, and south tubes end at the 90th floor; the remaining west and center tubes reach 108 floors, with an area of 12,283 square feet (1,141.1 m ) on each of the top stories. The Sears Tower was the first building to use this innovative design. It
12376-413: The northern section of the annex's roof is supported by black columns that resemble those in the original tower. The Catalog also contains decorative details, such as handrails and staircase landings, which are inspired by elements of Chicago's "built environment". The third story of the Catalog contains a 30,000-square-foot coworking space operated by Convene. The Willis Tower observation deck, called
12512-515: The once highly influential general merchandise catalog became prohibitive; sales and profits had declined. The company discontinued the catalog in 1993. It dismissed 50,000 workers who had filled the orders. In 1992, the company posted a $ 3.9 billion loss, the largest ever from an American retailer. In 1992, California successfully sued the company for falsely finding things wrong with automobiles in for repair for other reasons. In 1997, criminal charges were made. In 1998, Sears announced it had sold
12648-519: The opening of three new stores with a limited set of merchandise under the name Sears Home & Life. Also that month, Sears closed its store at Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Hawaii , and its store at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois (which was razed and already rebuilt as a 1-story store), making it the first post-bankruptcy closure for the brand since being bought by ESL. On June 3, 2019,
12784-513: The outskirts of Chicago, its success led to dozens of further openings across the country, many in conjunction with the company's mail-order offices, typically in lower-middle-class and working-class neighborhoods, far from the main downtown shopping district. This was considered highly unconventional at a time when shopping was concentrated in city centers, but through World War II , there was an extensive streetcar network in Chicago and other U.S. cities. However, rapidly increasing car ownership and
12920-485: The plaintiffs did not have a right to undistorted television reception. Meanwhile, the FCC declined to act on the height dispute on the grounds it did not have jurisdiction. The FAA approved the antennas atop the tower in June 1972, and the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the previous rulings by Lake and Cook County circuit courts at the end of the month. Work was temporarily paused that July due to
13056-446: The presence of the double-deck elevators, these occupy 83 shafts. As designed, one bank of single-deck elevators connected the lobby to the lowest 28 stories. Banks of double-deck elevators traveled to "sky lobbies" at the 33rd/34th and 66th/67th floors, where passengers could transfer to local elevators. The 34th through 103rd stories were served by local elevators that operated from the sky lobbies. Two elevators also ran directly from
13192-400: The project, Sears executives said the building could not accommodate Sears' annual shareholder meetings, and the company continued to rent space in other structures. The first Sears employees began moving into the tower during the weekend of September 9, 1973. Flashing beacons on the building's roof, the first to be installed at any building in Chicago, were activated the same month. Upon
13328-425: The project, the main entrance was covered with a four-story glass dome, and the first four stories were converted into a shopping atrium. In addition, a visitor center for the building's Skydeck was constructed. The renovations, designed by SOM, were completed in mid-1985. Paul Gapp of the Chicago Tribune wrote that SOM had "scaled the new entrance skillfully, in keeping with the main building's height" and that
13464-462: The property taxes. In November 1989, Sears decided to instead refinance the building. The next year, Sears took out a mortgage loan on the tower for $ 850 million from MetLife and AEW Capital Management , with MetLife as the holder of the mortgage note; the loan would mature in 2005. In 1990, the law firm of Keck, Mahin & Cate decided to move into a development that would become 77 West Wacker Drive , rebuffing Sears' attempts to entice
13600-625: The remaining 15 Sears Auto Centers in the United States with a message on the Sears Auto Center website stating: "Auto Centers have closed for business. We appreciate your patronage over the years. If you have any questions concerning warranty claims, please visit us at Sears Help." In May 2022, it was announced that roughly 100 more Sears Hometown stores, including the last four in Michigan, would close permanently. On December 13, 2022, Sears Hometown filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It
13736-648: The remnants of Western Auto (which it had acquired in 1998) to Roanoke -based Advance Auto Parts . The business deal was not what experts in the after-market automotive industry expected: Sears, Roebuck became "one of the largest shareholders" after obtaining a 40% stake in Advance Auto Parts and merging their two store networks, which included Western Auto's wholesale and retail operations. The existing store network of Advance Auto Parts, comprising 915 stores in 17 U.S. states, merged with 590 U.S.-based Parts America Stores in addition to 40 Western Auto stores in
13872-526: The second building was considered in the original design. The plan was eventually cancelled as city zoning did not permit construction of such a tall building in that location. In February 2009, the owners announced they were considering a plan to paint the structure silver, an idea that was later abandoned. 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. Although Sears' naming rights expired in 2003,
14008-490: The site could theoretically accommodate a 300-story building with 13.5 million square feet (1,250,000 m ). In practice, most potential tenants did not want excessively high offices. Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted the height of structures in the area to protect air traffic. FAA officials publicly denied that they had imposed a height limit; however,
14144-551: The southern entrance on Jackson Boulevard. The Wacker Drive lobby contains In the Heart of this Infinite Particle of Galactic Dust , a 2019 artwork by Jacob Hashimoto. It consists of over 7,000 rice-paper and resin disks that are hung from the ceiling. To honor Khan's contributions to skyscraper engineering design, the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois also commissioned a sculpture of him for
14280-422: The storekeeper's estimate of a customer's creditworthiness. Sears built an opposite business model by offering in their catalogs a larger selection of products at published prices. By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages, including many new items, such as sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods and automobiles (later produced, from 1905 to 1915, by Lincoln Motor Car Works of Chicago [no relation to
14416-426: The street below. The boxes, which can accommodate 5 short tons (4.5 metric tons), opened to the public on July 2, 2009. On May 29, 2014, the laminated glass flooring of one of the boxes cracked while visitors were inside, but there were no injuries. The flooring of the same box cracked again on June 12, 2019. In May 2022 a fifth glass ledge opened on the west facade overlooking South Wacker Drive. When completed,
14552-497: The structure, increasing its total height to 1,707 feet (520.3 m). The western antenna was later extended, bringing the overall height to 1,729 feet (527 m) on June 5, 2000, to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV . The perimeter of the Willis Tower contains columns that are spaced 15 feet (4.6 m) apart on their centers. The facade is made of anodized aluminum and black glass. Alcoa manufactured 4 million pounds (1.8 kt) of aluminum sheeting for
14688-461: The suburbs was infeasible, since it would require relocating about 7,000 employees. Instead, Sears executives decided to consolidate the thousands of employees in offices distributed throughout the Chicago area into one building on the western edge of Chicago's Loop . Sears asked its outside counsel, Arnstein, Gluck, Weitzenfeld & Minow (now known as Saul Ewing LLP ) to suggest a location. The firm consulted with local and federal authorities and
14824-410: The suspects were convicted and two acquitted. The alleged leader of the group, Narseal Batiste , was sentenced to 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 years in prison. In response to the perceived threat of an attack, the building's largest tenant at this time, Ernst & Young , moved to North Wacker Drive in early 2009. In May 2020, heavy rains caused three of the basement levels to flood, knocking out power to
14960-494: The three men were able to acquire at least one of the lots within 90 days, all three options would be forfeited. Ultimately, Sears acquired the Loop site in 1970. Sears then obtained permits to close down one block of Quincy Street, which bisected the site from east to west. Attorneys from the Arnstein firm, headed by Andrew Adsit, began buying the properties parcel by parcel. Sears purchased 15 buildings from 100 owners and paid
15096-493: The time—styles made famous by Bertram Goodhue and Eliel Saarinen . Its stores were oriented to motorists. Set apart from existing business districts amid residential areas occupied by their target audience, they had ample, free, off-street parking and communicated a clear corporate identity. In the 1930s, the company designed fully air-conditioned, "windowless" stores, such as Sears-Pico in 1939 in Los Angeles , which
15232-511: The top in about 60 seconds, allowing occupants to feel the change in pressure as they ascend. Some 1.7 million tourists visit annually as of 2018 . There is also an event venue on the 99th floor. In January 2009, a major renovation of the Skydeck began, including the installation of retractable glass balconies which extend approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) from the facade of the 103rd floor, overlooking South Wacker Drive. The all-glass boxes, informally dubbed "The Ledge", allow visitors to see
15368-430: The tower to MetLife for $ 9 million. In March 2004, MetLife announced that it would sell the building to a group of investors, including Joseph Chetrit , Joseph Moinian , Lloyd Goldman , Joseph Cayre , and Jeffrey Feil of New York, as well as American Landmark Properties of Skokie, Illinois . The quoted price was $ 840 million, with $ 825 million held in a mortgage. Two years later, in February 2007,
15504-545: The tower's opening, broadcasters at the John Hancock Center , Chicago's second-tallest building, had to decide whether to relocate to the Sears Tower. Two television stations decided to relocate. Six other stations remained at the John Hancock Center, citing a study which showed that relocating to the Sears Tower would provide only minimal benefits. Documents released in late 1973 indicated that
15640-513: The tower. SOM was also the lead structural engineer, and Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided MEP engineering. Sears planned to move its merchandise group into the building initially, renting out the remaining space to other tenants until needed. Sears executives were accustomed to large floor areas of at least 100,000 square feet (9,300 m ), but SOM architects raised concerns that the large floors would be unattractive to smaller tenants. A subsequent proposal called for two buildings connected by
15776-455: The tubes set back at upper floors. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building's owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110. The facade is made of anodized aluminum and black glass. The base of the building contains a retail complex known as the Catalog. The lower half of the tower was originally occupied by retail company Sears , which had its headquarters there until 1994, while
15912-484: The two stories immediately below each of the setbacks, thus reducing shear stress. The interior of the building could not contain diagonal beams, since these would have obstructed the connections between each of the "tubes". Therefore, the columns and the horizontal beams on each story are connected by rigid joints. The superstructure was designed to withstand wind gusts of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h), which on average would occur once every hundred years. According to
16048-571: The upper stories were rented out. The structure was known as the Sears Tower from its construction until the naming rights were included in a 2009 lease with the Willis Group . Local area residents still refer to the building by its old name. As of April 2018 , the building's largest tenant is United Airlines , which occupies around 20 floors. Other major tenants include the building's namesake Willis Towers Watson , and law firms Schiff Hardin and Seyfarth Shaw . Morgan Stanley became
16184-439: The upper stories. The firm of Saphier, Lerner, Schindler was responsible for determining Sears's space requirements and designing furniture for the company. It conducted a year-long study to determine how 16 of the company's departments should be laid out within the building. As Sears continued to offer optimistic growth projections, the height of the proposed tower also increased. Under Chicago's relatively lax zoning laws,
16320-423: The village of Skokie , northwest of Chicago, threatened to request an injunction to prevent further construction. In response to these concerns, Sears started researching methods to reduce the tower's effect on broadcast signals. Variety magazine stated that the Sears Tower did not interfere with broadcasts on its own, since several shorter towers in the Loop also interfered with broadcast signals. Nonetheless,
16456-502: Was a fire in one section of the building, the building's smoke-detection system would close off the fresh-air intake openings in that section, discharging smoke outdoors. Fifteen above-ground stories, as well as three of the basement levels, contain mechanical equipment. Above the Skydeck on the 103rd floor is a seven-story mechanical penthouse. The Sears Tower was planned with 103 elevators, including 14 double-deck elevators . The office stories are served by 97 elevator cabs; due to
16592-500: Was a plaza on the south side of the building, sloping upward toward Franklin Street to the east. The Franklin Street side of the building was 6 feet (1.8 m) lower than the Wacker Drive entrance, so the entrances on Franklin Street were actually below the plaza, leading to the building's lower mezzanine. Below ground level are three basement levels with a total area of 400,000 square feet (37,000 m ). The basements included
16728-431: Was also relatively small, with about 55,000 square feet (5,100 m ). Bernard Feinberg, Albert I. Rubenstein, and Philip Teinowitz had assembled that site over the previous five years, but they had failed to acquire a neighboring 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m ) lot from bus company Greyhound Lines . Feinberg, Rubenstein, and Teinowitz then bought options for three adjacent lots. Under the terms of each option, unless
16864-418: Was based in the Sears Tower in Chicago from 1973 until 1995, and was later headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois from 1993 until 2021, the year when it announced that it would be selling its Hoffman Estates headquarters complex. On December 12, 2022, Sears Authorized Hometown Stores, LLC, and affiliated debtor Sears Hometown, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and on December 26 announced
17000-549: Was both structurally efficient and economic: at 1,450 feet, it provided more space and rose higher than the Empire State Building and cost much less per unit area. The system would prove highly influential in skyscraper construction and has been used in most supertall buildings since, including the world's current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa . In February 1982, two television antennas were added to
17136-518: Was bought by the management of the American big box discount chain Kmart , which upon completion of the merger, formed Sears Holdings . In 2018, it was the 31st-largest. After several years of declining sales, Sears's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores. Sears
17272-434: Was dedicated in the lobby in October 1974. Sears' optimistic growth projections were not realized; instead, in late 1974, the company fired 500 workers, about seven percent of the 7,000 Sears employees that worked in the tower. Competition beyond its traditional rivals such as Montgomery Ward arose from emerging retail giants including Kmart , Kohl's , and Walmart . As a result of a surplus of office space that emerged in
17408-432: Was excavating a trench around the site, measuring 60 feet (18 m) deep and 20 by 216 feet (6.1 by 65.8 m) across. The contractors then built a slurry wall within the trench, made of concrete and reinforced steel. Workers used steel bracing to prevent the slurry wall from collapsing inward, then used caissons to drill 201 holes into the ground. They also rerouted a sewer that had run underneath Quincy Street, which
17544-518: Was handled by Albert Henry Loeb of Chicago law firm Loeb & Adler (now Arnstein & Lehr ); copies of the transaction are still displayed on the firm's walls. Sears and Rosenwald got along well with each other, but not with Nusbaum; they bought his interest in the firm for $ 1.3 million in 1903 ($ 44.1 million today). Rosenwald brought to the mail-order firm a rational management philosophy and diversified product lines: dry goods, consumer durables, drugs, hardware, furniture, and nearly anything else
17680-479: Was intended to accommodate 16,500 employees. Each of the "tubes" is a column-free module measuring 75 by 75 feet (23 by 23 m), which set back at different stories. There are setbacks at the 50th, 66th, and 90th floors. The lowest 50 stories contain nine tubes and cover 52,000 square feet (4,800 m ) each. The northwest and southeast tubes terminate at the 50th floor. The 51st through 66th floors each span 41,420 square feet (3,848 m ), above which
17816-679: Was later revealed that all remaining Sears Hometown stores would be liquidated and permanently closed. As of September 2024, there are nine Sears stores remaining, with eight in the mainland U.S. and one location in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The company's U.S. website, Sears.com, remains active for online purchases. On November 21, 2024, the Seattle Times reported that the Sears store in Tukwila, Washington, will close on December 15, 2024. Willis Tower The Willis Tower , originally and still commonly referred to as
17952-538: Was maturing. The following year, because of the increasing costs of the renovation, Blackstone received a new $ 1.3 billion loan from Deutsche Bank and Barclays . The Wacker Drive "Lunchbox" entrance was demolished in early 2018 to make way for the Catalog. A steel globe next to the entrance, manufactured by the Poblocki Sign Company and installed in 2010, was relocated to Elmhurst, Illinois . A 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m ) private club on
18088-680: Was taller than the Empire State Building in New York City. The building was topped out on May 3, 1973. The day before the event, the Chicago Tribune 's editorial board wrote: "Move aside, New York. After tomorrow, when schoolchildren dream of big buildings, they'll no longer think of you and the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center." The frame was still not technically complete, as three to four stories remained to be built. One week after
18224-428: Was the first to have an open plan selling floor (instead of breaking up the floor into discrete sections). Sears was also a pioneer in creating department stores that catered to men and women. The stores included hardware and building materials. It de-emphasized the latest clothing fashions in favor of practical and durable clothing and allowed customers to select goods without the aid of a clerk. In 1933, Sears issued
18360-457: Was to be closed permanently as part of the tower's construction. The Diesel Construction Company was hired as the Sears Tower's general contractor . Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman Gordon M. Metcalf installed the building's first steel beam at a ceremony on June 7, 1971. The project employed 2,000 workers. To accelerate the building's construction, a concrete plant was built in the building's basement, allowing workers to pour one-third of
18496-579: Was transformed into the new Sears Holdings Corporation . The new company started trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange as SHLD; Sears sold its single-letter ticker symbol 'S' in the New York Stock Exchange that it had held since 1910 to Sprint Corporation . The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands. In 2005, the company began renovating some Kmart stores and converting them to
#279720