Why was the Sears Tower made

The Sears Tower, located within the heart of Chicago, Illinois, stood as the tallest free-standing building in the world from its completion in 1974 until it lost its spot in 1998. Standing at an impressive 108 stories tall the building today still remains one of the tallest and most impressive structures in the world, though contrary to its name the Sears Tower is no longer used by Sears for any business purposes.

Originally commissions by Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1969 the Sears Tower was designed as an engineering feat to assist in the housing of the company and its numerous employees in the area. The largest retailed in the world in that period Sears, Roebuck & Co. employed roughly 350,000 individuals in the area alone and were looking to expand in the coming years. As such the 108 story structure was engineered and constructed to house all of the employees of the corporation both at that time and during its expansion period.

Because of the rise in retailer competition from the early 70s Sears faced a difficult time reaching its intended expansion levels, and in 1992 began moving many of its operations out of the Sears Tower. This continued through 1994 when AEW Capital Management purchased the tower as a whole from Sears, with Sears completing its evacuation of its iconic tower in the following year – relocating all employees to its location at Hoffman Estates in Illinois. 1997 then saw the TrizecHahn Corporation purchasing the tower as a whole, later then surrendering the property to MetLife in 2003. Finally, as of 2004, the tower was purchased once more by a group of numerous investors and American Landmark Properties.

Although the Sears corporation no longer resides in the Sears Tower the building still retains its name to this day, a testament to the original owner and developer of the massive structure that rivals many other leading engineering marvels in the world. To this day the Sears Tower still remains at the top of some categories, with its 103rd story bathroom being the second highest in the world – topped only by the Shanghai World Financial Center completed recently in Shanghai’s Lu Jia Zui district.