12 Facts About Willis Tower

Variety magazine stated that the Sears Willis Tower did not interfere with broadcasts on its own, since several shorter towers in the Loop interfered with broadcast signals.

In November 1972, the Sears Willis Tower became Chicago's tallest building, surpassing the Standard Oil Building, which had held the record for one month.

Willis Tower 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 the lower half of the building until tenants were found for these stories.

Willis Tower had difficulties finding a buyer, in part because the lower stories were too large for many potential tenants.

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 the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago.

Related searches

Willis Tower was designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Sears Willis Tower was the first building to use this innovative design.

When it was completed, the Sears Willis Tower was heated electrically, unlike older structures that used gas heating.

Sears Willis Tower was planned with 103 elevators, including 14 double-deck elevators.

The Willis Tower remains the third tallest building in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere.

Annually, since 2009, the Willis Tower has hosted SkyRise Chicago, the world's tallest indoor stair climb, as a charity event benefiting Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, where participants can climb the Willis Tower's 103-story staircase.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien introduced a character called The Sears Willis Tower Dressed In Sears Clothing when the show visited Chicago in 2006.