Newport Tower (Jersey City) World Financial Center in Manhattan. The Newport Tower is a modern-style building. It is similar in appearance to the world-famous Willis Tower, (formerly known as "Sears Tower") in Chicago, Illinois. The tower received a facelift in the summer of 2005; wooden panels have been installed on the lobby walls, and LCD advertisement screens added to the elevators. The colonnade in front of the building has been removed in July 2008. A new elevator management system, Schindler ID, was installed in the building in September 2009. On October 19, 2011, Multi-Employer Property Trust purchased the Newport Tower from Brookfield Properties for
Joshua Sears Building "SEARS". The second entrance is centered on the east facade and bears many of the same features: pressed metal pediments, etc. The Sears Building was built in 1891 by Boston millionaire, philanthropist and Kirkland investor Joshua Montgomery Sears as part of the speculative land boom following Peter Kirk's proposal of building a steel producing mecca that would rival Pittsburgh on the east side of Lake Washington. The building cost $18,000 to build, at the time the most expensive being built in Kirkland outside of the steel mill itself. The bricks were pressed from local clay at Peter Kirk's own brick