Sears Tower forever
By Gerald Skoning
- March 18, 2009
What a shameful attack on another “towering” Chicago icon. Since its completion in 1973, the Sears Tower has been an international superstar among skyscrapers. It was the tallest building in the world for many years and is still the tallest in the United States. This is no time to be tugging at Super-building’s cape and renaming it Willis Tower. It might as well be Smith Tower. Or, maybe more appropriately, with apologies to John Cleese, Fawlty Tower.
I should acknowledge my personal bias in the naming issue. My father, Warren “Duke” Skoning, was the vice president of real estate and construction for Sears when the tower was built. The project was his baby, and how he loved it. From conception to completion, he lived the design and construction of the landmark building with remarkable passion.
Sears had been headquartered on the Near West Side at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street since 1906. The company prospered there and grew into a retail and catalog sales giant that dominated the industry.
However, the neighborhood fell upon hard times as jarring urban changes occurred in the late ’60s. Sears decided change was in order. As would be expected in the corporate world, the company established a strategic planning team given the task of presenting options on relocation of the headquarters.
A number of options for the relocation were considered. One was to develop a sprawling suburban corporate campus (similar to what Motorola, McDonald’s and Baxter, among others, have done). Another idea, somewhat out of the blue, and moderately risky, was to develop the world’s tallest building in downtown Chicago. No one thought the latter could possibly appeal to Sears’ executive leadership.
Somehow, Mayor Richard J. Daley got wind of the tallest building proposal. As the ultimate promoter of everything downtown Chicago, he saw major economic development opportunity and made it clear Sears should and would opt for the tallest-building-in-the-world option. The mayor made it crystal clear that zoning and building code hurdles would be no problem for Sears. Economic development and the stream of tax dollars in the city’s future would trump any of those petty concerns.
His Honor got his way, and Sears decided to relocate its headquarters to a city lot bordered by Wacker Drive, Franklin Street, Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street, where the Sears/Big Willie Tower stands today. An alley on the property caused an issue about relocation of utilities. The city agreed to assume the minimal cost of relocating the utilities, which the late Len O’Connor claimed in his book “Clout” was an example of corrupt corporate influence in the city. My father’s response to O’Connor’s assertion was that Sears would pay more in city taxes every day than the total cost of the utilities relocation project.
My brother and I had a unique opportunity to explore the Sears Tower as it neared completion. We rode in a construction elevator to the 110th floor of the building, then in the final stages on construction.
With panic in our eyes, we walked out onto wooden planks across the I-beams that framed the top floor of the building. Steeplejacks and other bold construction workers scurried around the wind-swept top deck as if it were the ground floor. All in all, it was a frightening experience, even for my brother, who was a seasoned Navy fighter pilot with numerous aircraft carrier landings. Fighting acrophobia, we braced ourselves against the howling wind and gazed out at the amazing panorama of metropolitan Chicago that has attracted millions of visitors to the Skydeck in the 36 years since the tower’s completion. We were shamelessly proud of our dad. A father stands tall in the eyes of his sons, but all the more so 1,450 feet up.
We felt proud of our city, and even more proud that the Sears Tower would dominate the skyline for years to come. We thought the “Sears Tower” would be a lasting monument to our great city and tribute to our retail merchandising heritage for decades to come.
The Sears Tower will always be the Sears Tower to me and our family. Like other Chicago icons, there are those of us who will never think otherwise … Marshall Field’s, Comiskey Park, the Chicago Stadium, the Wrigley Building and dare I say Tribune Tower.
Naming rights be damned. Sears Tower forever.
Gerald Skoning is a Chicago lawyer
Being from Chicago, Chris and I feel exactly the same, word for word. The Sears Tower will always be Sears Tower, and so far, I haven’t spent a dime at Macy’s. It’s a nice store, but I just can’t do it. I’m not sorry about that either. Marshall Field’s was a Chicago institution. We may as well re-name the city “Youbuyityounameit-ville, USA” I can’t believe this. More wasted money by corporate America or should I say Corporate UK in this case since they are based in LONDON! Really, re-name your own f-ing landmarks and stay out of MY CITY! Assholes!
and a Bengal Tiger (Tigers)
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